Sri Lanka: Leveraging sustainable smallholder oil palm to transform rural economy

Published 2023년 11월 28일

Tridge summary

The Planters' Association of Ceylon has called on the Sri Lankan government to reverse the ban on oil palm and instead develop a policy framework for the expansion of sustainable oil palm cultivation. The Association emphasizes the need to expand oil palm opportunities to smallholders, particularly rubber smallholders who have been impacted by adverse weather conditions and disease outbreaks. Oil palm cultivation is seen as a potential solution to the country's economic crisis, as it provides employment, reduces the need for costly imports, and bridges the country's edible oil gap.

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Original content

In the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s most severe economic crisis on record, the Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) called on the Government to take immediate steps to reverse the ban on oil palm. On the contrary, the Association called for the development of a comprehensive policy framework for the sustainable expansion of oil palm cultivation - both for RPCs and smallholders. Sri Lanka’s protracted economic crisis has plunged many of its citizens into financial despair with the national poverty rate increasing from 25% in 2022 to 28% in 2023, while in the rural sector this number has reached a staggering 32%. Oil palm cultivation should expand to smallholder sector According to PA Chairman, Senaka Alawattegama, the solution for the nation’s macroeconomic woes, and that faced by citizens in Sri Lanka’s rural heartland, is to be found in the opening up of sustainable oil palm cultivation to the smallholder sector. In particular, he emphasised the need to expand oil palm opportunities ...

Source: Ft