Resource information
The issue of regional differences in
development has moved to the center of the development
debate in Sri Lanka, partly after the release of regional
poverty data. For the past many years, there have been
significant and increasing differences between the Western
province and the rest of the country in terms of per capita
income levels, growth rates of per capita income, poverty
rates, and the structure of provincial economies. The
structure of the report is as follows: chapter two looks at
the poverty/growth/agriculture nexus in the poorest regions
of Sri Lanka. It presents data on poverty and growth in the
poorest provinces, especially Uva and Sabaragamuwa, and
provides an analysis of factors associated with the rural
poor. Chapter three provides an overview and brief
discussion of the Government's agricultural policies
and programs. Chapter four identifies constraints that
restrict farmers' incomes in the four poorest
provinces. It presents results from extensive stakeholder
consultations carried out in these provinces. These results
are complemented with findings from the 2005 rural
investment climate assessment to identify some of the
general constraints in the agriculture sector in Sri Lanka.
Chapter five presents the findings of an agricultural
resource audit of small-scale farmers in the poorest regions
that analyzed production, poverty and market data. The
chapter identifies income opportunities, in particular for a
few agricultural products with high income potential for
poor farmers, whose production could take off with
appropriate interventions. This chapter also provides a
value chain analysis of these products and identifies
product-specific constraints and gaps in the current policy
portfolio that could potentially limit the Government's
capacity to support the whole range of needed interventions.
Drawing on the findings in previous chapters, chapter six
presents' recommendations. One set of recommendations
is specific to the three products with high income potential
and focuses on effective interventions for their production.
Another set consists of cross-cutting recommendations that
would further improve performance in the targeted areas but
also benefit agricultural production more broadly. Chapter
seven sums up and concludes.
