Leading climate change and meteorology expert Dr. Ranjith Punyawardena delivered an awareness session on the impending El Niño phenomenon to the Ministry of Plantation and Community Infrastructure on Wednesday, outlining risks to Sri Lanka’s tea, rubber and coconut estates and the steps needed to mitigate them, Newswire reported.
Plantation and Community Infrastructure Minister Samantha Vidyarathna said the primary focus of the discussion was safeguarding the livelihoods of plantation communities while maintaining national production targets and minimising impacts on vulnerable families.
Punyawardena’s presentation covered soil and water conservation, the rollout of micro-irrigation technology, timely weather updates for smallholder farmers, capacity-building for field officers, and modern technological solutions to climate-related disruption.
“We remain fully committed to driving our country’s plantation industry forward resiliently, even amidst climatic challenges, and taking all necessary steps for the well-being of the plantation community,” Vidyarathna said in a statement.
The briefing follows a series of government meetings on El Niño preparedness. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake chaired an inter-ministerial meeting on June 11, and Agriculture officials have asked Yala-season farmers to use water sparingly given irrigation reservoirs were 63 percent full at the start of the season. Energy Minister Anura Karunathilake on Thursday ruled out power cuts despite a 127-hour shortfall in hydropower output blamed on the same weather pattern.
The Met Department has warned that 82 percent of the island could face drought conditions in July-August, with the strongest southwest monsoon suppression in nearly a decade. Tea estates in the central highlands and rubber and coconut belts in the low country are the most exposed.
Sources: Local climate change expert warns of El Niño impact on Sri Lanka’s plantations — Newswire, June 12.
