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Paddy field in Sammanthurai, Ampara District.

Rice production or Paddy production is one of the main productions and staple foods in Sri Lanka. It cultivates in all districts of Sri Lanka during two monsoon seasons. It is estimated that about 708,000 ha (1,750,000 acres) of land uses for paddy. [1] The seasons are called Maha season and Yala season. (Literally, Sinhala word Maha means bigger and Yala means lesser. [2]) Maha Season starts by September and ends by March during North-east monsoon, and Yala season starts by May and ends by August.

History

In 2019, president Gotabaya Rajapaksa campaigned to eliminate artificial pesticides. In April 2021 he "declared that the entire country would immediately switch to organic farming", yet as of February 2022, still "a majority of farmers say they received no training in organic techniques". [3] The 2021 rice harvest failed, leading to a $1.2 billion emergency food aid program, a $200 million income-support program, and "huge sums to import hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rice". [3] Rajapaska's "sudden and disastrous turn toward organic farming" was panned in international media and the policies were scaled back before the year was over. [4] [5]

Chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease of undetermined causes (CKDu), initially reported among agricultural communities in Sri Lanka, particularly in Southern rural areas, and could be common in other tropical and subtropical rural settings. [6]

Production statistics

Season Production

(million MT)

Year
Maha season Increase 3,197 [7] 2020
Yala season Increase 1,840 [7] 2020
Total Increase 5,037 [7] 2020

References

  1. ^ "Paddy Statistics". Department of Census and Statistics.
  2. ^ "Know the Etymology: 292". TamilNet.
  3. ^ a b Doug Saunders (February 5, 2022). "For Canada, organic food is a status symbol. For Sri Lanka, it's a catastrophe". The Globe and Mail. p. O11.
  4. ^ Wipulasena, Aanya; Mashal, Mujib (December 7, 2021). "Sri Lanka's Plunge Into Organic Farming Brings Disaster". The New York Times.
  5. ^ "Sri Lanka to pay $200m compensation for failed organic farm drive". Al Jazeera. Jan 26, 2022.
  6. ^ "CGlyphosate's kidney disease link". news.mongabay. mongabay. 5 March 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  7. ^ a b c "SL's highest paddy production in 2020". The Morning - Sri Lanka News. 2020-10-14. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
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