The Haritha Derana SME Foundation presented a letter to the President’s Advisor on Food Security Dr. Suren Batagoda requesting him to negotiate to lift the ban on Palm oil plantations. The foundation opined that due to the ban they are unable to get involved in highly paying agri businesses and requested Batagoda to intervene in this regard.
This was presented at the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) hosteda workshop to review the policy on Oil Palm Cultivation in Sri Lanka. The workshop was held under the patronage of the Asia Palm Oil Alliance (APOA) and Solidaridad Asia, and coordinated by Nucleus Foundation.
In April 2021, the Sri Lankan Government imposed a ban on palm oil imports and cultivation. While the ban on palm oil imports was swiftly reversed after causing a significant financial strain of $88 million, the prohibition on oil palm cultivation remains in effect.
However, the decision to persist with the ban on palm oil production raises questions, especially given the current economic crisis and the depletion of Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves. It also deprived numerous smallholder farmers of the opportunity to benefit from oil palm cultivation, a prospect that has proven successful in neighboring India and also in countries such as Malaysia, and Indonesia. Currently 40 percent of the total global palm oil production comes from the small holders.
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