Thursday, 24 October 2013 00:00
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The country’s paddy production has increased by 4.8% this year, figures released by the Department of Census and Statistics show.
According to the Census and Statistics Department’s paddy statistics, total paddy production in the Maha season of 2012-2013 stood at 2,846,276 metric tons while the Maha season last year yielded 2,716,961 metric tons.
The area of paddy sown in the Maha season this year has also increased by 11% compared to the same period last year. A land area of 779,635 hectares across the island was sown with paddy this year.
However, the area harvested has increased by only 8.3% compared to last year Maha season. This year island wide paddy crop harvested from 741,591 hectares while last year 684,636 hectares were harvested from 702,075 sown.
The average yield per hectare has also decreased this year by 3.7%.
The Northern and Eastern Provinces have contributed 25% of the paddy harvests this year.
In other areas, production of minor export crops grew by 2.1% this year.
