News

Aloe vera export project set to grab 6% of land in Anuradhapura

Published

4 years ago

2021/10/15

Sahan Weerasooriya

… will spell doom for farmers, forests……

By Rathindra Kuruwita

The Cabinet on 30 August 30 approved a proposal for handing over 6% of the total land area in the Anuradhapura District to a private company to grow aloe vera, and this will have a disastrous impact on the environment, climate and human elephant conflict in the North Central and North Western Provinces, Sajeewa Chamikara of the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR) says.

The Cabinet had approved a paper jointly presented by Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa and Minister of Lands S. M. Chandrasena for the handover of 104,066 acres (42,115 hectares) of Anuradhapura land to a private company on a long-term lease of 30 years, Chamikara said.

“Although the project was officially approved only a few weeks ago, the company had been illegally using large swathes of land, used by farmers of Rajanganaya Track 18 village as well as lands that had been under the control of the Forest Department for over three years. These lands have been illegally acquired without the approval of any state institution,” Chamikara said.

The 104,066 acres earmarked for the project include 2,000 acres in Rajanganaya and Nochchiyagama Divisional Secretariat areas, earmarked as a plant nursery, 102,000 acres from several areas of the Anuradhapura District for planting aloe vera and another 66 acres for a factory, a field office and storage units, Chamikara said.

“These lands are to be handed over on a 30-year lease as well as per the provisions of the State Lands Ordinance. The 102,000 acres, to be used as the aloe vera plantation, consists of cultivated lands belonging to families who had been living in these lands for a long time. These are farmers who have been given state land under various schemes. They hold various land titles. The total investment in this project is US $ 783 million. The Cabinet Paper states that US $ 300 million will come into the country as the initial investment,” he said.

Chamikara added that the total land area of Anuradhapura was 717,900 hectares. Out of this, 42, 115 hectares had been allocated to the aloe vera project. The project would make aloe vera the second largest cultivated crop in the district,after paddy, he said.

“However, is it correct to allocate such a vast land area for the cultivation of aloe vera for export? What is the land use pattern of Anuradhapura? It appears that the Cabinet has not considered this. According to the Land Use Policy Planning Department there are 88, 859 hectares of home gardens in the Anuradhapura District, which is 12% of the total land area. There are 6,494 hectares of permanent crops, banana and coconut cultivations in the district too. This is 1% of the total land area. There are 161,752 hectares of paddy land, 23% of the total land area. There are also 87,510 hectares of yearly crops and chena cultivations as well (12% of the land in the district),” he said.

Chamikara said that the total land used for agriculture in Anuradhapura encompassed 344,615 hectares, and out of this, 12% would now be allocated for the aloe vera plantation. Given the significant land use, the impact of the project on the food production of the country should be estimated, he said, adding that at least the revenue generated by exporting aloe vera must be compared to the loss incurred by the reduction in food production. Given that food prices were increasing across the world, the impact the project would have on the food security of the country must not be underestimated, Chamikara said.

“The water sources spread across the district is the foundation of agriculture in Anuradhapura. These water sources, i.e., tanks, rivers, streams, canals, marshes, etc., amounts to 67,630 hectares, which is 10% of the land area in the district. These water sources depend on surrounding areas that act as catchments. There are 175,627 hectares of thick forests in the district, which is 25% the total land area. There are also 116,889 hectares of shrub and open forests, 16% of the total land area. The remaining 13,139 hectares of the district consist of built areas, rocks and sand mounds. When compared to overall forest lands in the district, it is around 14% of such lands. Most forests are linked to the eastern, southeastern, and southern borders of Wilpattu National Park,” he said.

Chamikara said that if forest lands were not used for the project, the government would have to acquire land already used by farmers for the project. It in turn would force a section of farmers to clear forest land as land available for agriculture was reduced because of the project. The clearing of forests will in turn lead to a water scarcity in the district and many farmers will not be able to cultivate during both Yala and Maha seasons. That would start a vicious cycle, he said.

“As per the Cabinet paper, most of the land earmarked for the project belong to farmers settled under various land grant schemes. Most of the chena lands are cultivated only during the Maha season. These lands are left vacant between June and September. This is usually the dry season and these abandoned chena lands become feeding grounds for wild animals including elephants. When such chena lands are used for aloe vera cultivation, the human – elephant conflict of the region will worsen. This would also endanger more farms.

The human – elephant conflict prevails in Puttalam, Kurunegala, Mannar and Polonnaruwa districts, which borders Anuradhapura. Thus, any change for the worse in Anuradhapura would also spill over to these adjoining districts,” he said.

“While aloe vera is a plant with high medicinal value, planting aloe vera as a monocrop on a large scale would lead to many issues”, Chamikara warned, saying that if the company cleared land to plant aloe vera, there will be soil erosion. The eroded soil would find its way into the tanks, rivers, canals, and other water sources in the area. It would lead to diminished carrying capacity in those water sources, which would in turn have a devastating impact on farmers in the area. Moreover, given the severe soil erosion, the farmland would have to be continuously fertilised, and this would lead to other issues in the future.

“On the other hand, during the dry season there is heavy evaporation of water in the soil in an aloe vera plantation. This, in turn, will have an impact on groundwater leading to a serious lack of water for farming and drinking purposes. Aloe vera will be an excellent plant for mixed cropping in home gardens. However, the results will be less than optimal when one tries to plant them en masse as a monocrop,” he said.

Chamikara said, “During recent years, there has been a significant spike in the human – elephant conflict in the dry zone due to the massive expansion of maize and sugar cane plantations in swathes of cleared forest lands.

“The expansion of these large commercial agro enterprises have displaced elephants from their natural grazing areas and have obstructed their ability to move from one forest area to another. Thus, the elephants are compelled to invade human settlements. Small-scale farmers unable to cope with the increasing threat from elephants were selling their lands to big companies.

“Between 1990 and 2000, on average, 150 elephants and 40 humans died per year due to the human – elephant conflict. However, between 2010 and 2018, elephant deaths have increased to 275 and human deaths to 80 per year. The situation became worse in 2019, when 406 elephants and 122 humans died in conflict. In 2020, 307 elephants and 112 humans died. With this project the human – elephant conflict in Anuradhapura District and adjoining areas will further increase,” he said.

All out attempts to contact the company concerned on the telephone number given on its website failed.

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News

New Digitalization Policy draft reviewed

Published

1 hour ago

2025/12/13

Priyan

A meeting between representatives of UNICEF and Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya was held on the 10th of December at the Prime Minister’s Office.

During the discussion, an initial review of the new digitalization policy draft was conducted, and it was emphasized that the new digital policy must be formulated to align with the ongoing education reforms.

The Prime Minister highlighted that the digital policy should be developed in a way that supports all five core pillars of the current education reforms, including curriculum reform, infrastructure development, and administrative restructuring.

It was further noted that the current draft is primarily focused on curriculum-related matters, and the digital policy should be structured to influence the overall education reform process.

Extensive discussions were also held on the importance of digital literacy, NEMIS, the provision of digital infrastructure, and minimizing the existing digital divide.

Attention was also drawn to the gaps in the current teacher training mechanisms , and the Prime Minister stressed the need to reduce paper usage.

The meeting was attended by the UNICEF representatives Dr. Emma Brigham and Deborah Wyburn, Secretary to the Prime Minister Pradeep Saputhanthri, Additional Secretary A.B.M. Ashraff, and several other officials.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]

Business

The government is taking steps to streamline trade facilitation, customs processes, investment approvals, and improving export facilities – Prime Minister

Published

2 hours ago

2025/12/13

Priyan

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the government is taking steps to strengthen local exporters by making trade facilitation, customs procedures, and investment approvals more efficient, and by improving export services.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while addressing the 27th Presidential Export Awards 2024/25 ceremony organized by the Ministry of Industries and Industrial Development together with the Export Development Board.

At this ceremony, which was held to recognize the best exporters of Sri Lanka for the financial year 2024/2025, a total of 107 awards including 15 overall awards and 92 sectoral awards for products and services were presented. Merit awards were also presented to eligible sectors based on applicants’ performance and their contribution to national economic development. Awardees were selected on several criteria such as export market diversification, job creation, growth in export revenue, repatriation of export income, environmental sustainability, institutional social responsibility, and value addition.

Institutions that demonstrated outstanding performance in the export sector were presented with the prestigious Presidential Export Awards for the year under the patronage of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and Minister of Industries and Industrial Development, Mr. Sunil Hadunnetti.

Further expressing her views, the Prime Minister stated:

“The Presidential Awards Ceremony for exporters reminds us that Sri Lanka’s progress depends not merely on policies or administration, but on the ability to produce, to create value, and to compete internationally.

Over the past year, we faced numerous challenges. As a result, global markets and supply chains were disrupted. Economic uncertainty prevailed. We faced natural disasters. Despite this, many exporters had to adjust to these changes, reorganize production processes, diversify customers, and adopt digital technologies in order to remain competitive in the market.

The impact of the Ditwah cyclone also affected several industries within the export sector. Production facilities, storage facilities, and transportation routes in affected areas were damaged. Production chains and delivery schedules were disrupted.

Under such a difficult situation, some exporters experienced significant setbacks while trying to meet international export demands.

The government is taking steps to support exporters by assessing the damages they suffered due to the emergency situation, restoring their operations, and helping them recover. The government is also working to strengthen resilience against future natural disasters and to rebuild affected areas in a way that minimizes the risk of similar situations arising again.

Sri Lanka is currently undergoing a new economic transformation. For many years, instability, policy inconsistencies, and administrative inefficiencies hindered the progress of the country. This weakened investor confidence and made it difficult for businesses to plan ahead.

However, the present government is committed to governance based on stability, transparency, and accountability. This is not a short-term approach. It is a long-term process to ensure that the country does not fall back into uncertainty.

For this purpose, the government is implementing strong fiscal management, predictable policies, clear and simplified regulations, anti-corruption measures, major institutional reforms, measures that allow businesses to plan ahead, instill investor confidence, minimize unnecessary barriers, and support the development of the private sector.

For a long time, we relied heavily on international loans to sustain national expenditures. However, this is not leading a path toward a stable future. Our progress depends on our ability to earn through trade, innovation, and global engagement.

Your ability to take Sri Lankan expertise and creativity to the world is a strength for the entire nation. The government is ready to extend the necessary support to achieve this.

We understand that issues such as policy inconsistencies, delays that increase operational costs, limited access to competitive financing, gaps in infrastructure and technology, weaknesses in trade facilitation, and slow progress in expanding market access have impacted you. I would like to assure you that the government is directly addressing these challenges.

The focus of the government has drawn to build efficient, transparent, and predictable systems, streamlining trade facilitation, customs processes, and investment approvals, improving export facilities, and minimizing the gap between local businesses and global markets.”

This event was attended by Ministers Kumara Jayakody, Ramalingam Chandrasekaran, Sunil Kumara Gamage; Deputy Ministers Chathuranga Abesingha, Eranga Weerarathna, Arun Hemachandra, Nishantha Jayaweera, Muditha Hansaka Wijayamuni; Governor of the Central Bank Nandalal Weerasinghe; Secretary to the Ministry of Industries and Industrial Development Tilaka Jayasundara; Chairman of the Export Development Board Mangala Wijesinghe, along with ambassadors, foreign delegates, exporters, and a large gathering.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]

News

Big fossil fuel companies are responsible for climate crisis but poor countries like Sri Lanka are battered by it – Greenpeace South Asia

Published

3 hours ago

2025/12/13

Thilina Walpola

Greenpeace South Asia yesterday sounded a renewed alarm after a rapid analysis by World Weather Attribution (WWA) confirmed that human-induced climate change significantly intensified the extreme rainfall that battered Sri Lanka during Cyclone Ditwah and fuelled severe flooding across the Malacca Strait.

Greenpeace South Asia said that according to the study, the five-day rainfall extremes, like those unleashed by Ditwah, are now 28% to 160% more intense due to the 1.3°C of global warming already driven by greenhouse-gas emissions. Warmer sea surface temperatures in the North Indian Ocean — 0.2°C above the 1991–2020 average — supplied the additional energy that powered the cyclone’s rapid strengthening and heavy downpours.

WWA researchers stressed that Sri Lanka’s existing vulnerabilities magnified the disaster’s impact. Steep highlands funnelled water into densely populated floodplains, while unplanned urbanisation in flood-prone areas heightened exposure. Breakdowns in ICT systems meant early warnings failed to reach many, leaving low-income and marginalised communities to absorb the worst of the cascading disruptions to transport, electricity and essential services.

Avinash Chanchal, Deputy Director of Greenpeace South Asia, said the human toll was worsened by forces far beyond the island’s control.”During Cyclone Ditwah, we saw people coming together — neighbours rescuing neighbours, volunteers working through the night,” he said. “But while ordinary Sri Lankans showed up for each other, the real culprits were nowhere to be seen. The WWA study confirms what we already knew: this disaster was intensified by the carbon pollution of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies. They caused the crisis, yet it’s the frontline communities who pay the price.”

Greenpeace warned that events like Ditwah signal a dangerous new normal for the region.”With increasing incidents, like Cyclone Ditwah, it is clear that extreme weather events are no longer isolated,” said Kumar. “Communities in South Asia will continue to struggle to cope with such conditions.”

The organisation urged countries most responsible for historic emissions to respond decisively. “This is high time that developed-country governments stop pretending this is normal,” Greenpeace said. “They must immediately cut emissions, phase out fossil fuels, and deliver real finance for loss and damage. Anything less is a betrayal of the people already living on the frontlines of climate breakdown.”