Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) are preparing to invest in palm oil cultivation as a Plantations Ministry-appointed 13-member expert committee found no basis for the environmental and health concerns cited in Sri Lanka’s 2019 ban, the Daily FT reported.
The expert committee’s report has been shared with the Cabinet and Parliament, Palm Oil Industry Association (POIA) Chief Operating Officer Yajith de Silva said at an industry roundtable hosted with Watawala Plantations PLC. The panel concluded there was “a strong socio-economic case for lifting the ban,” he said, but added that policymakers had asked the industry to first dispel public misconceptions through awareness campaigns.
Before the 2019 ban, oil palm covered about 10,400 hectares in Sri Lanka, with private operators committing roughly Rs. 500 million to expand a further 8,000 hectares before the policy change halted those projects. Lalan Rubbers Director Prof. Asoka Nugawela said the foregone expansion would today have generated around USD 35 million in additional output per year.
Prof. Nugawela said palm oil’s per-hectare returns substantially exceed those of competing crops. A hectare yields about 16,000 kg of oil and a net profit above Rs. 800,000 a year, against under Rs. 300,000 for rubber under comparable conditions. Plant-to-yield time is three and a half years for palm oil compared with six to seven years for rubber. Palm oil estate workers earn around Rs. 185,000 a month, against over Rs. 75,000 in tea and Rs. 40,000 in rubber.
University of Colombo Department of Zoology Professor Devaka Weerakoon told the roundtable that the latest environmental research suggests replacing unyielding rubber plantations with oil palm has no material impact on soil, water or wildlife. Globally, oil palm yields up to five times more oil per hectare than coconut. In Sri Lanka the crop is concentrated in high-rainfall regions — Galle, Matara, Kalutara, Kegalle and Ratnapura — where annual rainfall exceeds 4,000 mm. Carbon sequestration is estimated at 11 to 16.3 tons per hectare per year, below rubber but above tea and coconut.
The industry estimates that around 20,000 hectares of palm oil would meaningfully reduce Sri Lanka’s edible-oil import bill — a goal PM Harini has framed as a national security priority — and the associated foreign-exchange outflow. SAARCFOODS Sri Lanka President Dr. Renuka Jayatissa and Watawala Deputy General Manager Prasanna Premachandra also presented at the roundtable.
