SRI LANKA - 25 July 1996

Trade and Markets Division

SRI LANKA - 25 July 1996

Year of publication 1996

Author Trade and Markets Division

Product type Book (stand-alone)

Series title Special Reports and Alerts

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) Further to GIEWS' Special Alert No. 265 of February 1996, an on-the-spot assessment of the 1996 Yala crop and the overall food supply situation has just been completed by FAO/GIEWS. The assessment is based on field visits to the main areas affected in Kurunagula and Anuradhapura and on discussions with Government officials and representatives of international agencies. The main observations are as follows: As a result of a significant decline in inter-monsoonal rainfall in October and Novem ber last year and an estimated 40 percent drop in rainfall from the North-eastern Monsoon beginning in December, there was a substantial decrease in the output of the main Maha rice crop, which normally accounts for some two-thirds of annual rice production. Latest estimates indicate that the 1995/96 crop amounted to approximately 1.3 million tons of paddy, some 22 percent lower than average for the preceding five years and 465 000 tons or 26 percent below the bumper harvest in 1994/95. The most significant decline in Maha production occurred in rainfed areas and minor irrigation schemes in the dry zone, principally around Kurunagala and Anuradhapura in central parts of the country, Hambantota in the south and Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullattivu and Jaffna in the North. Rainfall in the major producing provinces of Kurunagala and Anuradhapura in December, a critical month, was 20 percent and 13 percent respectively of the long-term average, whilst the corresponding fall in output, from the five-year average, was 54 percent and 27 percent respectively. In some districts it is reported that production fell by as much as 75 percent. Although less severe, output from major irrigation schemes in the Mahaweli programme also declined and was 17 percent below normal. In addition to paddy, other rainfed crops were also badly affected particularly maize, kurakkan, a coarse grain alternative to rice, green gram and soya.