Sri Lanka Data Book

Last update: November 22, 2024

This page contains information about some of the data available in the FEWS NET Data Explorer (FDE) for Sri Lanka. This is not a comprehensive guide.

For information about using the filters and fields for specific domains in the FDE, see Choose a Data Domain.

Summary table

Country food security context

Statistical reporting units

Sri Lanka generally uses administrative units as their statistical reporting units.

Administrative (admin) units are the geographical areas into which a country is divided. FEWS NET uses the following terminology: National boundary = admin 0, First sub-national division = admin 1 (e.g., states in the United States), Second sub-national division = admin 2 (e.g., counties in the United States), and so on.

Admin 1: Province

Admin 2: District

Admin 3: Divisional Secretariats (DS)

Admin 4: Grama Niladhari Divisions

Districts in Sri Lanka have remained relatively stable in number and shape since 1984 when Kilinochchi District was created.

Crop data

Explore our crop data.

View our documentation on using the Crop Domain.

Crop estimate data sources

The Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) is the principal disseminator of crop estimates for Sri Lanka and the source of most of the Sri Lanka crop statistics found in the FEWS NET Data Platform.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Land, Livestock, Irrigation, Fisheries, and Aquatic Resources (MoA) provides a range of crop-specific documents which pertain to agriculture and its bearing on food security in the country. A key crop data resource is the AgStat Booklet found at the Socio Economics and Planning Centre of the Department of Agriculture.

The Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute’s Food Commodities Bulletin provides key data of interest to Sri Lanka’s crop and food availability status not found elsewhere.

Crop reporting units

For the country’s crop data, the district is the lowest administrative unit to have complete crop results. The large agricultural scheme named Mahaweli Area H is not a district but is often listed along with districts in crop results.

There is an emerging body of Admin 3-level (DS) crop data found in District Handbooks. The earliest crop data appear to be from 2016, and cover most, but not all, years since then although this varies greatly between individual DSs.

Year and season definitions

The annual cropping cycle in Sri Lanka is generally considered to start with the maha (main) rainy season, (usually September - the end of March). It is followed by the yala rainy season (usually April - the end of August).

This annual cycle is referred to either with a two-year notation (e.g., 2023-24), or with a one year notation drawn from the second of the two years, (e.g., 2024). The second year in the notation is the harvest year for both seasons.

Crop statistics context

There are approximately 92 crops for which there are crop results, with coverage periods which vary widely. Rice production, the key food source for Sri Lanka, is documented in several different ways in the DCS website. Other food crops are generally described as Highland crops, sub-divided into low country (warm-weather crops) and high country (crops which need a temperature gradient). The Highland crop data section includes cereals, pulses, oil seeds, roots and tubers, minor exports, fruits, leaves, other perennials, and other. There is additional data available for cassava, onions, potatoes, and sugarcane.

It appears that crop statistics are amended after their first posting on the DCS website, so for updates it may be important to look back two or three years to assure the best estimates.

Hectares and metric tons are the normal units of measure for this data.

Crop statistics methodology

No information is yet available to describe the current and past national methods used in estimating the country’s seasonal and annual production.