Weather wreaks havoc on vegetable cultivations

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Heavy rains in the upcountry have had a devastating impact on the supply of vegetables, Prashan Rajapakshe, Manager – Welisara economic Centre says.

Rajapaksa told the media yesterday that Nuwara Eliya had been experiencing torrential rains for three months almost continuously and that had reduced the quality and quantity of the agricultural produce as well as the extent of the land area under cultivation.

Rajapakshe said that low country vegetables were seasonal unlike the upcountry varieties. Therefore in certain times of the year the supply of low country produced vegetables dropped drastically and that had been the case for decades.

“Right now, there is a shortage of low country vegetables because this is the beginning of the planting season. Farmers have just started planting crops in the main low country farming areas and their produce will only come to the market after 15 January 2022,” he said.

There was also a drop in the supply of upcountry vegetables and it was mainly due to the continual rains in the Central Province, he said, adding that in the month of November, there had been only three days of sunshine in Nuwara Eliya.

“The first week of December was dry but it has been raining since. This affects vegetable production in many ways. If we take Nuwara Eliya for example, there are farms located on the sides of hills and in the lowlands. Due to the heavy rains a lot of cultivations on hill sides have been destroyed by landslides. The cultivations in the low-lying areas have been flooded. This has caused significant damages to the produce,” he said.

The lack of sunshine had also affected the quality and the volume of the vegetables, Rajapakshe said. Consumers judge upcountry vegetables by their colour and the lack of sunshine affected their colours, he said.

“The heavy rains are affecting the cultivation in the low country too. There are heavy rains in many agricultural hubs and the farming is going slow. Mahaweli H Zone, Puttalam, Embilipitiya are among the main zones of agriculture in the low country. If one area is affected by any reason there is a serious effect on the supply of vegetables,”Rajapakshe said.