Delays in cultivation a hard lesson on feeding a nation
View(s):Farmers should take an example from this season and all other parties should be onboard to ensure that water release have to take place accordingly and farmers cultivating accordingly.
Sri Lankan farmers must not delay their cultivation at the next Maha season to ensure the harvest yields could be acquired as per requirements in a bid to overcome the drought weather pattern of El Nino.
The Yala season’s harvest yield is likely to drop as a result of which only 20-40 per cent of the 26,000 H affected by the drought will fully recover while the rest will be hard to recover, Peradeniya University Crop Science Senior Prof. Buddhi Marambe said.
He explained that taking into consideration this scenario all stakeholders involved in the cultivation of the next season need to ensure that they get all farmers onboard and ensure cultivation starts together on time with the onset of the rains without any delays.
The simple and effective measure is to ensure there is conservation of moisture and conservation of water so that the pressure on hydro electricity generation is limited.
“When there is a drought in the latter part of the year and when there is such a network of reservoirs why don’t we use it judiciously?” he queried.
Sri Lanka is currently cultivating the largest extent of paddy for the Yala season this year at 500,000 H that according to forecasts was likely to generate yields sufficient to feed the country for over a 12-month period.
But due to the drought and the non-release of water some paddy fields fully dried out with no signs of recovery and with only 20-40 per cent expected to fully recover.
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