The Food Policy and Security Committee convened at the Presidential Secretariat to chart Sri Lanka’s preparedness for the impending global El Niño phenomenon, with Yala-season reservoir storage and drinking water supply identified as priority concerns.
The meeting was co-chaired by Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation Lal Kantha and Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe, according to a President’s Media Division statement cited by Ada Derana. Particular attention focused on the possible effects of El Niño on the agricultural sector, ensuring adequate water storage in reservoirs for the upcoming Yala season, and safeguarding drinking water supplies.
Minister Samarasinghe instructed officials to obtain views and recommendations from the relevant institutions. Line agencies — the Ministry of Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture, the Mahaweli Authority and the Department of Irrigation — were directed to prepare and submit comprehensive plans setting out measures to address the potential impacts. A special follow-up meeting of the committee was scheduled to continue discussions.
Ministers said the government had successfully managed challenges arising from Cyclone Ditwah and the conflict in the Middle East and that plans were already in place to manage El Niño similarly. “Natural disasters cannot be predicted with certainty,” Samarasinghe said, stressing the importance of contingency planning in advance.
The meeting takes place against a deteriorating weather backdrop. The World Meteorological Organization has already forecast El Niño conditions developing through May-July 2026, the Department of Meteorology has projected an 82 per cent drought probability for July–August, and reservoir storage entering Yala has been running tight — the Irrigation Department’s latest reading put major-reservoir storage at around 63 per cent of capacity ahead of cultivation, with several upper-catchment dams below 60 per cent on the FSP-flagged Victoria release-rate debate from May.
Among those present were Senior Additional Secretary to the President Kapila Janaka Bandara, Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration S. Aloka Bandara, Secretary to the Ministry of Health and Mass Media Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Director General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawardena, Acting Director General of the Department of Meteorology A. L. K. Wijemannage, and Director General of the Department of Agriculture W. A. R. T. Wickramarachchi.
