Category: Agriculture

Jan 16, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan coconut prices which have soared in recent months are expected to ease by end-February as new crops come in but will remain high as world edible oil prices were high, industry officials said. “The shortage of nuts could ease towards the end of February but I’m not sure […]

Jan 14, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has stopped exporting pepper under the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) because of restrictions imposed by India, a top exporter has said. Gulam Chatoor, former chairman of the Spices and Allied Products Producers and Traders Association said India’s imposition of a cap of 2,500 tonnes a year on […]

Jan 12, 2008 (LBO) – Pakistan’s removal of a quota on Sri Lankan betel leaf exports has helped raise the quality of life among growers in three of the island’s districts, a government minister said. The government is keen to ensure that the benefits of the island’s burgeoning exports flow down to the villages in […]

Jan 07, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government should divert funds from agriculture subsidies to improving market linkages of rural farmers on the lines of successful models built by firms like Hayleys and MAS Tropical Food Processors, a new study said. The island has much potential to develop its spices sector mainly consisting of over […]

Jan 04, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea prices could be pushed higher if violence in Kenya, the world’s biggest tea exporter, disrupts supplies to the world market, trade officials said. The violence in Pakistan, a big tea consumer nation, could on the other hand dampen demand, they said. There has been no impact yet […]

Dec 31, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan cloves growers are seen benefiting from an expected rise in prices owing to a shortfall in production in the island and elsewhere and rising demand, trade officials said. Cloves production in India, the main buyer of the Sri Lankan spice, is also down and unable to meet the […]

SEENIGAMA, Sri Lanka, Dec 23, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka at the weekend revived an ancient ritual of offering the first cinnamon harvest to the gods, three years after a devastating tsunami wiped out centuries-old plantations here.Some 30,000 people are employed in chopping off cinnamon branches and turning out quills. In a pageant involving traditional […]

Dec 09, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has not given environmental clearance for a controversial sugar project yet and its first application for approval has been rejected, a top official said. . A cane cultivation project in Bibile, in the Uva province of Sri Lanka, has drawn heavy fire from environmental activists and academics who […]

Nov 30, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is getting 360 million dollars in concessionary aid from Iran to build a multipurpose irrigation project that will generate 100 MegaWatts of electricity and divert water to irrigate the south of the country, officials said. The Uma Oya project with cost a total of 450 million dollars, Treasury […]

Nov 29, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is trying to make use of grazing lands freed from the grip of Tamil Tiger rebels in the island’s east to increase domestic fresh milk production. . The initiative would help meet domestic demand and reduce imports at a time when global milk prices have doubled owing to […]

Nov 27, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is supporting efforts by other major tea growing countries to form a forum exclusively for tea producing nations, Ranjith Abeykoon, director of Tea Promotions said. The idea, being discussed at the on-going India International Tea Convention in Guwahati, is to increase global demand for tea, which now still […]

Nov 23, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan spice producers are urging the government to get big corporate plantations companies to grow more spice crops to meet growing global demand. “There is a need to grow more spices for export to the global markets,” the Spices and Allied Products Producers and Traders’ Association (SAPPTA) said in […]