Prospects of Feed Crops in Sri Lanka: The Role of CGPRT Crops

Due to the rapid expansion of the poultry industry not only in Sri Lanka but also in other countries, the demand for feed crops has increased substantially. The CGPRT Centre initiated a study to analyze the situation in South Asia under a project called "Prospects of Feed Crops in South Asia (FEED)". The study was initiated to understand the demand-supply gap, weaknesses, opportunities, constraints and policy options to bridge the gap of feed crops in Sri Lanka. For this study, the data was collected from the Department of Animal Production and Health (AP & H), the Department of Census & Statistics and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Additional data was collected from other sources such as the Department of National Planning, Sri Lanka Customs and the Institute of Policy Studies to investigate the behaviour mainly on imports and policies related to the development of food and feed crops in Sri Lanka. Most of the relevant data was collected from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and the Department of Agriculture. The collected data was processed and a model was used to determine future demand and supply of maize as the main feed crop in Sri Lanka. The models were not used for soybean, root and tuber crops or other pulses due to the non-availability of sufficient data at the time. A workshop, with the participation of senior scientists, policy makers and private sector representatives, was conducted to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of expanding feed crops and some policy recommendations for the further development of these crops