Double paddy cultivation to make Sri Lanka self-sufficient in rice: President

By Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama

COLOMBO (Daily Mirror) - President Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed the Agriculture Ministry to take all necessary measures to double the paddy cultivation in the country in the next six cropping seasons in order to make Sri Lanka self-sufficient in rice.

 By now, Sri Lanka has reached a self-sufficient level of rice, but it has not been possible to get the same level of harvest from all the paddy fields across the island.

The average yield of paddy in this country varies from 2.5 to 4.5 metric tons of paddy per hectare. Also, the farmers in some districts have recorded up to 11 metric tons as the highest paddy yield per hectare in Southeast Asia.

It is agreed to increase the yield in Sri Lanka's paddy cultivation as well as to maintain a high international demand for Sri Lankan rice by improving the quality of rice.

Therefore, the President has instructed to implement special programmes while introducing new technology to increase paddy yield to the farmers. Also, the President said that the government will provide the necessary financial and technical allocations.

Currently, the number of paddy fields in Sri Lanka is 800,000 hectares. The amount of paddy cultivated in the two seasons is 1.3 million hectares per year. The total yield of paddy is about 5.2 million metric tons. The amount of rice that can be produced is 3.1 million metric tons, while 2.4 million metric tons of rice is required for consumption in this country annually.

Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that although there is enough rice in the country, it is the government's goal to increase rice production in the country with the aim of implementing the government's food security programme and providing space for the public to consume rice at a minimum price.