• Indian Ocean partners to shore up food stocks
• National cultivation plan to begin before 15 Oct. to safeguard domestic supply
• Food security will not be a problem until Dec.: Minister

Sri Lanka has initiated high-level inquiries and discussions with international partners including India to secure essential food supplies and safeguard national food security as El Niño conditions are expected to strengthen in the coming months.

This, as the risk of adverse weather impacting crop seasons and leading to flooding raises concerns about food security in the coming months.  

Environment Minister Dr. Dammika Patabendi, who is also the Chairman of the Special Cabinet Subcommittee examining measures to be taken in response to El Niño conditions, told The Sunday Morning that discussions had been held directly with the Indian Environment Minister to address commodity supply and agricultural cooperation. 

“We have made inquiries regarding these food items with other countries,” he said. “For example, we discussed these matters directly with the Indian Environment Minister during my meeting with him on Friday (18).” 

The diplomatic inquiries include key essential commodities such as sprats.

Patabendi noted that these engagements complemented ongoing imports of essential commodities such as onions and potatoes, where harvesting and cultivation in supplying countries remained unaffected. 

“Currently, we are importing items like onions and potatoes, but there is no significant issue at present affecting harvesting or cultivation in the supplying countries,” he said, adding that national food security would remain stable through the end of the year. 

“This will not be a problem for us until December. Food security will not be compromised until that point,” he said, noting that a full evaluation for the period after December had not yet been finalised.

To complement international supply chains, the Government has simultaneously launched a national agricultural plan directing relevant institutions to begin the first phase of crop and vegetable cultivation before 15 October. 

“We have prepared a plan for the vegetables and crops that our country needs to produce and we are informing relevant institutions through official channels about the exact timelines to begin cultivation,” Patabendi said, stressing that initiating cultivation before 15 October would enable Sri Lanka to maintain domestic food production.

Department of Agriculture Director General Dr. Thushara Wickramaarachchi, in response to a query raised by The Sunday Morning during a media workshop held last week, regarding response strategies should food shortages arise, said that there was active international coordination with key partner nations to manage food security and mitigate potential supply shortages.

Sri Lanka relies on several primary partner nations for essential supplies, including India, Pakistan, Thailand, Canada, and Australia. Dr. Wickramaarachchi said that authorities were closely monitoring conditions within these supplier countries, noting that commodities such as lentils were imported from Canada and Australia. 

The Food Security Committee at the Presidential Secretariat meets twice a month to evaluate risks originating from foreign countries, maintaining oversight of four key commodities: dhal (lentils), sprats, potatoes, and onions.

Furthermore, Mahaweli Authority Water Management Secretariat Director Engineer Nilantha Dhanapala said that in order to protect water reserves and guarantee harvest stability during climatic shifts, the operational priority involved advancing the seasonal cultivation calendar so that farming communities could rely on direct monsoon precipitation and conserve reservoir water for drier months. 

He cited advancing cultivation schedules by a month and a half in the Walawe system and by one month in the Kala Wewa system as having successfully preserved reservoir levels and protected yields. He added that, due to growing awareness, farmer organisations now proactively requested earlier seasonal water allocations, seeking water by late September rather than October in order to maximise early monsoon rainfall.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, El Niño is expected to persist through to February 2027 and strengthen to very strong intensity by year-end.  

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has forecast a sequence of below-normal rainfall through the current monsoon season followed by above-normal rainfall from October, raising the risk of both drought and subsequent flooding, with implications for the forthcoming Maha and Yala cultivation seasons. 

The FAO has further cautioned that Sri Lanka lacks an adequate buffer against the failure of a major season, warning that a significant loss of Maha or Yala production could quickly drive up rice prices and import requirements, compounding pressures already placed on food security by elevated fuel, fertiliser, and transport costs.