Climate-Smart and -Resilient Agricultural Practices in Eastern Dry Zone of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The climate of Sri Lanka is mainly determined by rainfall, temperature, seasonal pressure, wind system, and humidity. Sri Lanka is a tropical island which is highly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Climate change in Sri Lanka is mainly characterized by the temporal and spatial variations of temperature as well as rainfall conditions. Sri Lanka is an agricultural country where agriculture is a key contributor to the national economy and the country’s food security. Since the agricultural sector is extremely dependent on natural resources such as water, soil fertility, temperature, and rainfall, it has a higher impact from climate change. Gradual climatic changes including extreme climatic events have already threatened Sri Lankan crop production including rice, livestock production, and the fisheries sector. Two-third of the agricultural areas in Sri Lanka are located in the dry zone, which covers the Northern, Eastern, and South-Eastern parts of the country where the Eastern provincial agriculture contributes significantly to the national agricultural production through both crop and livestock production. The higher degree of sensitivity of the major agricultural crops, livestock, and fisheries to climate change mainly for increased temperature and reduced rainfall and sudden climate vagaries may create both short-term and long-term adverse impacts on food production in eastern dry zone of Sri Lanka. Various mitigation and adaptation strategies for agriculture are adopted by the farming communities against climate change. Many of these climate-smart and winds. With respect to the rainfall, Sri Lanka has been divided into three main climatic zones, namely wet zone, intermediate zone, and dry zone. Further the boundaries of these three zones have been demarcated with consideration of present agricultural land use, distribution of forest species, rainfall, topography, and soils (Rekha Nianthi 2012). The climate in Sri Lanka is tropical monsoonal and consists of very distinctive dry and wet seasons. The seasons in Sri Lanka are first intermonsoonal season (March–April), Southwest monsoonal season (May–September),second inter-monsoonal season (October–November), and Northeast monsoonal season (December–February).