As increasingly erratic weather patterns disturb traditional farming calendars and leave farmers uncertain about harvests, Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector faces mounting pressure as the nation attempts to adapt to a changing climate.
A 2021 World Bank report on Sri Lanka notes that “climate change could influence food production via direct and indirect effects on crop growth processes. Direct effects include alterations to carbon dioxide availability, precipitation, and temperatures.”
Amid these upheavals, farmers require greater infrastructure and financial support to adapt to the needs of changing weather patterns. According to Ampara District Farmers’ Association Secretary H.C. Hemakumara, with cultivation having already commenced for the ongoing season, paddy farmers are not facing a significant impact from the prevailing rainfall conditions.
“There is no notable damage caused to paddy cultivations, but additional crops have been destroyed. Maize farmers are also facing issues,” he said, warning however that should rainfall continue until the sowing period, it would pose an obstacle to cultivation.
Moreover, he noted that farmers across a large extent of land used for cultivation in Ampara were unable to repair damaged canals since the Irrigation Department only had two functional machines out of a total of three for the area. “Ampara needs machines that can repair these canals,” he stressed.
Further, areas that had needed repairs since last season’s damage still remain unattended. “Farmers’ associations can repair minor damages, but not the larger ones. Therefore, the Irrigation Department needs to set aside provisions and repair these. It has been a year and the rains have started again, but no repairs have been done.”
Hemakumara warned that if rains worsened, the temporary fixes would be undone, leading to crop damage. He noted that the compensation paid for the crop damage stemming from the previous destruction was very low, meaning that farmers did not receive enough to cover even the cost of seed paddy.
When it comes to infrastructure support, Department of Agriculture (DOA) Natural Resources Management Centre Director Dr. A.G. Chandrapala noted that certain shortcomings existed.
“At present, low-lying areas, especially in the wet zone, are lying fallow. Due to the canals being blocked, they overflow, resulting in floods even for small rains. This has led to people moving away from farming in the wet zone. Moreover, irregular constructions, especially around canals, prevent the rain from being absorbed into the ground properly, increasing the danger of flash floods.”
Climate adaptations
With changing weather patterns, such as a delay in the onset of rainfall, farmers are now cultivating short-duration varieties, especially in the case of paddy.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning, University of Peradeniya (UOP) Senior Professor in Crop Science Buddhi Marambe noted: “Short-duration varieties provide relatively low yields compared to long-duration varieties. Moreover, people have moved into third-season cultivation, which is when they cultivate another crop, such as mung bean, between two cultivating seasons in paddy fields during the inter-seasons using residual soil moisture.”
When it comes to preparation for changes in climate, Sri Lanka continues to develop necessary technology. While the Department of Agriculture has developed technologies and genetic material that can withstand drought conditions and provide a reasonable yield, the question remains in implementation.
Taking paddy as an example, Prof. Marambe noted: “Sri Lanka has developed drought-tolerant rice varieties but we do not have many flood-tolerant varieties, although research is ongoing. Identifying and releasing rice varieties for different climatic conditions is not easy.” He noted that it took six to eight years to release a variety, since yield also had to be considered in addition to drought or flood tolerance.
“In times of drought, technologies have been developed to maximise the use of water, especially under water deficit conditions. One such technique is known as alternate wetting and drying. Through this, farmers are trained to measure water availability in the soil and manage water according to crop requirements to ensure adequate water even during low moisture situations,” he explained.
“However, a difficult question to answer at this stage is whether these technologies are being adopted in an appropriate manner. Technology adoption and implementation in a country like ours is a critical factor.”
State of preparedness
For paddy, as a seasonal crop, the rain received during the inter-monsoon period helps facilitate cultivation.
“Although we have started experiencing it in the Western Province, the initial impact was not felt in the dry zone, which is the heart of agriculture. However, as these conditions continue, even the dry zone has started receiving heavy rainfall. Nevertheless, this is the time period when convection-type rainfall usually takes place, known as the inter-monsoon season,” Prof. Marambe noted.
“Therefore, the rainfall that the dry zone receives right now will be a blessing if the farmers make use of it and start preparing the land, rather than waiting until irrigation schemes start releasing water. Since it is the same rainfall that is received by the reservoirs, it should not be allowed to go to waste.
“The rainfall and the wetting conditions of the soil should be used to commence land preparation, which will be an ideal situation to have a good crop and which can later be facilitated by the northeast monsoon as well, which will usually start sometime in December.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Chandrapala outlined the nature of State preparedness when it came to climate impacts on agriculture, noting that the DOA provided the necessary information to farmers that enabled them to conduct agricultural activities each season while adapting to weather changes.
“We issue an agro-met advisory every month to farmers, which details next month’s weather patterns, which areas and periods will see rain, how to prepare cultivations, and cultivation methods. This is distributed islandwide through agricultural advisers.
“Moreover, short-term weather changes are also communicated to farmers through SMS messages, allowing them to prepare for the next few days. We also inform farmers regarding water levels in reservoirs to help them prepare farming activities accordingly,” he said.
Currently, Maha season farming has commenced in the dry zone, while harvesting is still taking place in some areas in the wet zone. Dr. Chandrapala noted that since land was being prepared for cultivation in a majority of areas, the rain was an advantage, especially for rain-fed cultivation. He further pointed out that the rainfall was typical for this period.
However, since paddy harvesting is underway in the wet zone, the DOA has advised that farmers wait until the rain is over before commencing harvesting. However, Dr. Chandrapala noted that there was no danger as such for crops at present, with rainfall having decreased.