(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) – Sri Lanka’s rice harvest in 2018 minor agricultural season (Yala) is estimated to have grown 55 percent to 1.413 million metric tonnes with rains returning, driving up annual production by 82 percent to 4.3 million tonnes, Agriculture Department’s official data showed.
The Yala harvest is recovering from a slump to 909,000 metric tonnes in 2017 amid a record drought, from 1.517 million tonnes in 2016.
The Yala 2018 harvest is only 3.0 percent below the three year average, the state agricultural office said.
The Maha 2018 major agricultural season saw rice output recovering to 62 percent to 2.397 million metric tonnes, the state agricultural office said.
Total rice production for 2018 is estimated at 4.350 million metric tonnes, up 82 percent from a year earlier.
