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Country Pages > Sri Lanka
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a tropical island in the Indian Ocean that lies close to the southeast tip of the Indian subcontinent. Its land area is 64,740 km2. For administrative purposes, the country is divided into nine provinces. In 1995, the total cultivated land was estimated at 1,887,000 ha, and of the cultivated area, 1,000,000 ha were under permanent crops such as tea, rubber and coconut. Annual crops such as paddy, sugar cane, kurrakkan, maize, manioc, green gram, green chili and cowpea covered a total area of 887,000 ha.
The island receives rain mainly through two monsoons. The rainfall intensity varies markedly across the island and there are several agro climatic regions, namely the wet zone, intermediate zone, dry zone and arid zone.
Sri Lanka is considered to have an agriculture-based economy. Agriculture plays a dominant role in its economy in terms of food security, value-adding, employment and export earning. As in many other Asian countries, contribution of agriculture (including forestry and fisheries) to the economy has been declining over recent decades. In 2003, the agricultural contribution to the GDP was 19% and the contribution from the service sector was 54%. About 53% of the total work force was engaged in agriculture in 1960s and now it has declined to less than 38%.
The main reason for this drop is due to the traditional system involved in food production and the government¡¯s view that agriculture is not a business venture.
The financial allocation and human resource allocation for research & development on agricultural engineering is negligible, compared to the other disciplines. An enormous amount of financial resources and human resources have been utilized to conduct research and development activities related to agriculture, but the impact of such investment has yet to be fully realized.
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Area:
total: 65,610 sq km
land: 64,740 sq km
water: 870 sq km
Climate:
tropical monsoon; northeast monsoon (December to March); southwest monsoon (June to October)
Terrain:
mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains in south-central interior
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pidurutalagala 2,524 m
Natural resources:
limestone, graphite, mineral sands, gems, phosphates, clay, hydropower
Land use:
arable land: 13.96%
permanent crops: 15.24%
other: 70.8% (2005)
Irrigated land:
7,430 sq km (2003)
Natural hazards:
occasional cyclones and tornadoes
Current environmental issues:
deforestation; soil erosion; wildlife populations threatened by poaching and urbanization; coastal degradation from mining activities and increased pollution; freshwater resources being polluted by industrial wastes and sewage runoff; waste disposal; air pollution in Colombo. |
