Record paddy production in 2010

by Uditha KUMARASINGHE

The paddy production in 2010 is estimated to increase by 15 percent to 4.18 million metric tonnes compared to 3.65 million metric tonnes in 2009.

According to the Fiscal Management Report 2011 of the Finance and Planning Ministry, this would be the highest paddy production in post independent Sri Lanka.

A bumper harvest of 1.56 million metric tonnes is estimated in the 2010 Yala season, in line with the increased extent of land cultivated in the North and the East.

The surge was due to increased extent in cultivation by about eight percent, augmented productivity supported by favourable weather during the seasons, the continuation of the fertiliser subsidy by the Government, adopting a conducive tax policy to help local production and the continuation of the paddy purchasing scheme of the Government to stabilise the producer prices, the report said.

According to the report, the total newly cultivated paddy land in the Northern Province were 4,424 hectares in the 2009/2010 Maha season which included 1,406 hectares in Jaffna and 2,741 hectares in Mannar.

It is also notable that paddy production in the 2009/2010 Maha season in the Eastern Province recorded a growth in extent by around 10 percent to 150,696 hectares.

Accordingly, during the 2009/2010 Maha season alone, the total extent cultivated increased by 6.4 percent to 646,001 hectares while the average yield increased to 4,583 Kg per hectare compared to 4,421 kg per hectare recorded during the 2008/2009 Maha season, the report said.