Food & Climate
Sri Lanka Pineapple production has tripled on some farms that have relied on simple, uncomplicated methods to overcome problems that had forced some farmers to abandon cultivation. These methods were learned from a Chinese government delegation.
In 2023, the delegation from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs was assigned to a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) project focusing on Sri Lanka’s tropical fruit sector, with the aim of boosting the incomes of farmers producing bananas, pineapples, and mangoes, high-value fruits that could thrive in the country.
Further south, in the towns of Makandura and Horana, the tropical climate poses a special challenge as year-round heat and two big rainy seasons catalyse greater pest risks, said Yangyang Liu, whose focus has been on the pineapple value chain.
Flooding has been a major issue as well that led to many farmers abandoning pineapples. He and his colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences have shown how inexpensive field management, such as raised soil beds and novel mulching techniques, help mitigate that risk, according to a report seen by “Food & Climate” platform.
Increasing Sri Lanka Pineapple production by improving cultivation
The Chinese experts’ other practical advice for improving pineapple cultivation focused on irrigation, integrated fertigation networks that result in “more application but less use” of costly fertilisers and land cover sheaths to maintain soil moisture and minimize the runoff of expensive agrochemicals.
Together these initiatives sharply reduced labour needs for weeding, which is particularly ornery with the spiny variety grown in the region. Placing bags around the growing fruit helps block sun scorching, which in turn helps identify the actual ripening stage with greater precision and leads to tastier output.
Critically, Sri Lankan farmers learned how to use crown propagation, a method of generating fresh planting materials that is considerably more efficient and addresses one of the main cost barriers local pineapple cultivators face. This method more than triples the amount of new planting material generated by existing plants and responds to one of the main demands local farmers have.
Producing to 20 000 per acre
Suneth Lakmal, a long-time pineapple farmer, says that more available material and the more climate-resilient techniques he has learned has helped him nearly triple the number of pineapples he can grow to 20 000 per acre.
He is so confident that now he plans to double the amount of land he leases, boosting production to the point where he can try to negotiate export deals. Given his new method’s reduced reliance on costly pesticides and improved water efficiency, he dreams of expanding into becoming a large-scale farmer. “I don’t feel any limits to how much I can cultivate,” he said.
Dharshini Erangika Jayamanne, Director of Agriculture at the Research and Development Centre in Makandura, north of the country’s capital Colombo, set up a model pineapple farm that achieved three times typical local pineapple yields using the low-cost technology showcased by the project. Moreover, the fruits are higher quality and have uniform harvest times, boosting scale to meet the needs of foreign buyers.
Working with the experts, she innovated a way to generate new plant materials for pineapple and bananas – known locally as suckers – in a way that harmonizes seasonality and reduces the spread of plant diseases. She also led the training of more than 1 000 farmers and students through workshops.
While initial participants received financial help with upfront costs, they can be recovered in less than three seasons and sometimes just one, she reckons, making facilitating credit rather than offering grants a viable opportunity for the Ministry.