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by Dr. S. K. D. Frank F. Niranjan, Prof. H. P. M. Gunasena and Mr. M. B. Sakalasooriya

Controlled Environmental Agriculture (CEA) in Sri Lanka has expanded rapidly since its introduction through the Ag.Ent project in 1987. The technology was adopted mostly by the middle class agriculturists, as initial establishment cost is high in comparison to traditional open field agriculture. The present extent under CEA is about 62 ha.

The most important crop is tomato, which constitutes about 40% of the total vegetable production. Other species of vegetables commonly grown include bell pepper, slicing cucumber, onion, potato and cauliflower. The fruits include strawberries and grapes.

The main species of cut flowers are roses, gerbera, carnation and orchids. The use of controlled environment for floriculture however has commenced some years ago on commercial scale, and few large-scale companies are in operation, growing flowers for exports.

Middlemen

At present there are several stakeholders in this sub-sector, many of them practising in Badulla, Nuwara-Eliya, Kandy, Matale, Colombo, Gampaha, Matara, Ratnapura, Galle, Puttalam, Kurunegala and Kegalle districts. Some plantation companies and few large-scale companies are also engaged in this sub-sector. Input suppliers are also an important group in CEA.

The other group, marketing agents act as middlemen for selling of the final products. The final products collected from growers are sold mainly in super-markets, for used in tourist hotels and restaurants etc. The produce pass through a marketing chain, commencing from growers to middlemen and finally to the consumer. During this process, post harvest losses are minimized by using modern technology as these crops are carefully handled during sorting, grading, transportation and storage.

During storage the crops are kept under ideal temperature of 5-10 degrees C to maintain quality and reduce damage.

There are a few exporters of CEA products (International Food Staff Company, Eastern Allied Agencies Ltd., Ceylon Foliage (Pvt.) Ltd. and Mascons Agro-Tech Ltd. Some government departments (DOA, PDOA, Provincial Councils in Uva and Central provinces) are involved in providing services to the CEA growers.

The Faculties of Agriculture at Peradeniya, Ruhuna, Rajarata and Sabaragamuwa offers courses and undertake research on CEA. Other statutory bodies such as the EDB and BOI also provide services and guidance for growers. Donor funded projects such as GTZ, ESSP in Kandy, REAP in Matale, UNDP in Uva and Second Perennial Crop Development Project (ADB) also provide financial assistance to the CEA growers. Some commercial banks support the growers by providing loans on concessionary basis.

Owing to a multitude of constraints, vegetable production in Sri Lanka has been stagnating during past few decades.

Of the many, an unpredictable rainfall distribution pattern causes severe crop failures and yield losses.

Therefore, both growers and consumers suffer from seasonality in production and price fluctuation and lack of quality produce. Controlled environment agricultural systems of producing different types of vegetables, fruits and flowers have been attracting a great deal of interest from potential producers because of its protection from adverse climatic factors pests and diseases and weeds.

In addition, the use of soilless or hydroponics culture can reduce the adverse influence of the soil medium. Basnayake et.al., 2003 described CEA as the best practice of manipulating environmental elements to elicit the optimum expression of genetic potential of crops.

It is about crop nutrition rather than fertilisation. It is about crop protection rather than controlling of pests and diseases using pesticides.

It is about productivity, quality, food safety and environmental friendliness. The green house technology is comprised of the use of hybrid seeds, chemical pesticides improved sanitary measures, use of polythene mulch and hydroponics. Meanwhile, the majority of CEA farmers in the upcountry have not reached the level of developed countries with respect to mechanisation, cropping intensity and improved harvesting practices.

It is not only technology about green house growing crops but many other ways of manipulating the plant and the environment to achieve higher levels of production both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Green house

In CEA, success does not depend on technology alone. It is a system of Integrated Crop Management (ICM), in which efficient, intense, scientific management is the key to sustained success (Weerakkody, et al., 2001; Sorensen, 1998).

Global extent of green house and hydroponics covers 265,800 ha and 12,000 ha respectively in 1996 leading to an annual vegetable production of 3 mn.mt. Holland, Israel, Germany, USA, Russia, Japan, China and Korea are the leading countries, which have adopted these systems of high tech agriculture.

Presently number of tropical countries, including Sri Lanka, has entered into this field mainly because of the added yield, quality advances of production associated with high profits. There is an increasing demand for high quality vegetables in the international market and in specific local markets such as hotels, super markets and airline trade.

Therefore, there is a tremendous potential for expansion of high quality vegetable production under controlled environment conditions. (Cantliffe, 2003).

In Sri Lanka, first ever polytunnel with essential technological components was established in Gannoruwa in 1995. In 1997, seven green houses were imported from USA and given to selected growers. In the same year, 114 of new green houses have been established in the Uva province. High value crops were introduced through training programs and tomato, bell pepper, slicing cucumber and lettuce were the most popular types of vegetables.

With respect to mechanisation, cropping intensity and improved harvesting practices, the local system was under-developed compared to those in the developed countries.

However, the yield was relatively higher compared to open field agriculture, although there was no consistent income for growers due to market fluctuations (Weerakkody, et al., 2001).

(To be continued)

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