Drought costs 4.3% of Yala crop

ECONOMYNEXT –The current dry weather has damaged 51,055 acres (around 20,662 ha) of paddy, State Minister for Agriculture, D B Herath told parliament.

The damaged paddy area is around 4.3 percent of the estimated 484,437 hectares of sown extent in the Yala minor harvest season. According to the Department of Agriculture, the sown extent was seven percent higher than last year by the end of June 2023. This would produce around 1.81 million metric tonnes of rough rice.

“In Kurunegala, the damage has spread across 15,352 acres, in Mahawa 9,295 acres, in Udawalawe 14,667 acres, in Hambantota 1,892 acres and 1,230 acres of land in Puttalam,” Herath told parliament adding “we are prepared to pay compensation for all the damages in these areas.”

Sri Lanka has experienced dry weather in August, a phenomenon seen in so-called El Nino years. Farmers who did not cultivate as water was first given ended up with water shortages in irrigation schemes, according to some observers.

According to the Department of Agriculture, the sown extent would produce around 1.81 million metric tonnes of rough rice. Sri Lanka was expecting a rice surplus based on the on the June data.

Based on past trends Sri Lanka tended to have bumper Maha harvest in El Nino years due to extra rain received in the inter-monsoon period in October and November. According to researchers El Nino leads to wetter conditions during May, October, November and December and to drier conditions during January, February, March, July and August.