Abstract:
Rice was the staple diet of Sri Lankans from the earliest historical times. Non perennial
streams flowing across the North-western and South-eastern plains in the Dry Zone were
harnessed by building hydraulic structures from pre-Christian times. Many rulers built
anicuts, weirs, dams and reservoirs to conserve the water supply received in Maha, the
major rainy season in the Dry Zone, from October to February. The other cultivation
season, Yala, is from March to August.
According to previous information in the early 1960s the paddy yield had been very low
due to several physical and relevant agricultural policies. But after two decades the paddy
yield has started to increase gradually. In the 1990s it has increased to nearly a selfsufficient level of the rice requirement in the country. This study has tried to find out the
positive and negative issues for paddy harvest and paddy cultivation in Sri Lanka.
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To achieve the set objectives the study has used two types of data both primary and
secondary. Primary data was obtained from a survey, field observation and focus group
interviews. The secondary data was obtained from the Institute of Rice Research
(Bathalegoda) and different government agencies and reports.
This study has identified several major reasons that affected the increasing trend of paddy
harvests in Sri Lanka. The first one is that the paddy harvest has been decreased by 25% in
Sri Lanka. There are around five major factors that can contribute to increase the paddy
harvest and the extent of cultivation. The introduction of the high yield varieties (seeds) is
the first reason. Owing to that there is special attention given to it in this study. We have
only two options to increase the paddy yield for food requirements in Sri Lanka. The
problem is that the land available for paddy cultivation is almost completely used up.
Therefore, the only solution is to introduce scientific technology to develop new varieties
of seeds to increase the paddy harvest
