By Kelum Bandara

The expected green gram harvest dropped by 50 percent due to the adverse weather conditions resulting in a shortage in supply, a top official said yesterday. 

Green gram is among the dozen of food crops earmarked to be cultivated to meet the local requirement fully, without imports. Also, it is a vital ingredient used in making sweetmeats during the current festive season. The price of green gram remains as high as Rs.1400 a kilo.   

Director General of Agriculture Dr. W.M.W. Weerakoon told Daily Mirror Sri Lanka needs 25,000 tonnes of green gram for a year, but only 50 percent of it could be grown this year because of adverse rainy conditions throughout the season. He said the Government would import green gram to meet the shortage since otherwise, it would hamper the move to achieve self sufficiency by 2023.   

However, he said 20,000 hectares of land would be cultivated with green gram during the upcoming interim season.   

Dr. Weerakoon said Sri Lanka could well achieve self sufficiency in food crops such as green gram, groundnuts, maize and finger millet (kurakkan), and the agricultural authorities were well on the way to the target by 2023. He also said 60 percent of the big onion requirement could be fulfilled locally.