agriculture in Sri Lanka Archives

Rice-Duck Integration Hope for Sri Lanka’s smallholder farmers and food security-by Sunil Gamage Source:Dailymirror Ancient inscriptions testify that the integration of rice-duck was not just a farming method, but an important feature of agrarian society on the island, which deteriorated with the advent of chemical-intensive agriculture Using ducks and rice in Sri Lanka reflects a sophisticated understanding of ecological balance and sustainable farming Little-publicised recent research suggests rice-duck integration revival will provide all the answers to today’s agricultural challenges Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it— Mark Twain Agriculture in Sri Lanka is at a deadlock, and for the smallholder farmers, who constitute the backbone of the nation’s food production, it is a question of survival. Endless debates go nowhere, with a focus stuck on fertilizer subsidies and drones. Yet, the solution—a part of our agricultural heritage for centuries—is being glaringly ignored: rice-duck integration. Indeed, the ...

Around 80,000 mt of seed paddy needed – Agri-expert Source:sundayobserver.lk The term ‘food security’ looks simple, but it is complex. According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, a country is considered food secured “when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life,” said Senior Professor, Weed Science Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Buddhi Marambe told the Sunday Observer. He said as stated many times before, agriculture in Sri Lanka has evolved over the past seven decades since independence. Paddy production, especially, has reached its heights thanks to the forward-looking action taken by our scientists since the early 1950s and farmers embracing new technologies recommended by the Department of Agriculture and the commodity research institutes. “For example, we improved ...