Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Sri Lanka says up to 50 percent of rice crop destroyed by
floods
Reuters
By Ranga Sirilal
COLOMBO - Two rounds of flooding in Sri Lanka since January have
destroyed up to 50 percent of the staple rice crop, the
Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday, raising the risk of food
price inflation.
Heavy monsoonal flooding since mid-January has killed at least 54
people, and in the latest round this week, displaced more than 1.1
million from their homes.
"On rough estimates, more than 300,000 hectares' have been
completely destroyed so the total expected production is 1.75
million metric tonnes," Agriculture Ministry Secretary K.E
Karunatilake, the ministry's top civil servant, told Reuters.
Total expected production this season before the floods had been
739,000 hectares and 2.7 million metric tonnes, he said.
Greater-than-normal monsoon rains since early January have pounded
Sri Lanka's Northern, Eastern, Central and North Central
provinces, setting off mudslides, swamping roads and bursting
hundreds of dams and reservoirs.
The end of a 25-year civil war in May 2009 has added about 169,000
hectares in the former war zone to Sri Lanka's twice-annual
production, which the government has said will help mitigate any
potential inflationary shocks.
Already, the government has sought World Food Programme assistance
to help it acquire more fast-growing seed paddy stocks and to
speed up replanting.
"We are planning to get the replanting done by at least end of
March but the biggest problem is that most of the seed paddy is
also destroyed," Karunatilake said.
Current rice stocks and the potential for a larger crop in the
May-September season "are likely to ease any prices pressures in
2011," the central bank said on Tuesday after holding rates steady
and shrugging off inflation fears.
Although Sri Lanka has forecast inflation of 4 percent to 6
percent in 2011, the public has begun grumbling about high food
prices, which are traditionally a politically sensitive issue in
the Indian Ocean nation.
Global rice prices have remained largely stable despite food
prices hitting a record high on fears of shrinking wheat and corn
supplies.
Ample rice supplies from top exporters Thailand and Vietnam should
keep prices in check through the first quarter, although
stock-building by some buyers like Bangladesh and Indonesia could
push prices higher.
Benchmark Thai rice dropped 13 percent in 2010, while U.S. wheat
and corn futures climbed around 50 percent as adverse weather hit
key producing regions.
The world's second-largest rice exporter Vietnam was forecast to
enjoy a bumper next crop, while top buyer the Philippines has said
it would import between 1.0 million and 1.5 million tonnes in
2011, around half of last year's imports.
The two factors together should mitigate upward price pressure.