(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) – Sri Lanka will be self-sufficient in turmeric by 2021, Plantation Minister Dr Ramesh Pathirana said.
Sri Lanka produced 2,500 metric tons of turmeric a year, and the country would be able to increase its annual turmeric production to 6,000 metric tons in the future, he said.
The Minister made this observation responding a question by a journalist at the weekly cabinet media briefing held today at the Government Information Department.
The Minister said that the importation of turmeric was banned from November last year with the intention of encourage local farmers to cultivate crops that can be easily grown in the country and and to uplift country’s agriculture sector.
According to the statistics of the Department of Export Agriculture, the annual consumption of turmeric in the country is 7500 metric tons and the amount of turmeric produced in the country in 2019 is only 1200 metric tons. The amount of turmeric imported in that year to meet the remaining requirement was 5,382 metric tons and it cost Rs. 1.5 billion.
Approximately 1,500 hectares of turmeric have been cultivated so far by local farmers and they would yield a harvest of around 22,500 metric tons of raw turmeric by February 2021.
