The Agriculture Ministry has decided to reduce maize imports by 50 percent from next year since the country has been able to produce more than 50 percent of its maize requirement.According to Ministry statistics, Sri Lanka had imported 164,000 metric tons of maize in 2017 at a cost of Rs. 23,000 million and around 80,000 metric tons of maize has already been imported so far this year.

In 2017, there were only 150,000 acres of maize cultivated in the country and the Ministry has increased this to 250,000 acres this Maha season.With this total extent of maize cultivated land, the Ministry hopes to produce more than 50 percent of the country’s maize requirement.

Though the maize importers requested to issue maize importation licenses to import 300,000 metric tons of maize this year, the ministry did not issue licenses in order to safeguard local farmers.It is also reported that over 2,000 acres of maize cultivated lands in the country were completely destroyed by the ‘Sena’ caterpillar. But, this would not affect the total estimated harvest of the country.The National Food Promotion Board forecasts an increase in the maize harvest this Maha season due to the favourable weather conditions prevailing in the country.