Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector offers one of the country’s strongest opportunities for sustainable and relatively near-term investment returns, Deputy Minister of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development Chathuranga Abeysinghe says.
Abeysinghe said that while Sri Lanka has significant investment potential in trade, logistics and marine services, renewable energy, IT and BPO, tourism, advanced manufacturing, mineral-based industries and the creative economy, agriculture stands out because of the scope to rapidly improve productivity.
He said productivity levels of almost every major agricultural crop remain significantly below their potential, in some cases by more than 50%, despite approximately 3.3 million hectares of land being dedicated to agriculture.
According to the Deputy Minister, relatively simple technologies and targeted investments could significantly increase productivity, with the potential to double output in several areas.
He said the opportunity is further strengthened by growing global demand for organic, sustainably produced and fully traceable agricultural products.
Abeysinghe said a significant portion of Sri Lanka’s agricultural land could be transformed within the next three years with relatively modest investment, potentially substantially increasing both production and the market value of agricultural output.
He urged investors with surplus capital to look beyond traditional options such as bank deposits and Treasury Bills and consider opportunities created by the transformation of the agriculture sector.
The Deputy Minister pointed to Sri Lanka’s 2025 agricultural export performance as evidence of international demand. Coconut and coconut-based exports increased by around 43% to US$1.23 billion in 2025, according to Export Development Board data.
“The challenge we face today is not demand. The real challenge is production capacity, productivity and inefficiencies across the value chain,” Abeysinghe said.
He also called on exporters benefiting from strong international demand to increasingly invest in backward integration instead of depending entirely on fragmented producer networks and multiple layers of intermediaries.
Abeysinghe proposed outgrower models, farmer cooperatives, buy-back agreements and technology partnerships as mechanisms through which exporters and investors could strengthen production, quality and consistency.
The government has also been opening underutilized state plantation land and assets to local and foreign investors as part of efforts to increase productivity and attract investment into agriculture and related industries.
“Sri Lanka has the land. We have the farmers. We have the global demand,” Abeysinghe said, adding that investment, technology, organisation and stronger partnerships were now required to unlock the sector’s full potential. (Newswire)
Some people ask me what the best sector to invest in Sri Lanka right now is.
Sri Lanka undoubtedly has enormous potential across several sectors:
Trade, Logistics & Marine
Renewable Energy
Human Capital – IT & BPO
Tourism
Advanced Manufacturing
Mineral-Based Industries
Creative Economy
But above all these sectors, I believe agriculture offers one of the greatest opportunities for high, sustainable and relatively near-term returns.
The productivity of almost every major agricultural crop in Sri Lanka remains significantly below its potential often by more than 50%. At the same time, Sri Lanka has approximately 3.3 million hectares of land dedicated to agriculture.
This means that, through relatively simple technologies and targeted investments, we have the potential to significantly increase agricultural productivity potentially even doubling output in many areas.
At the same time, global demand is increasingly moving towards organic, sustainably produced and fully traceable agricultural products.
Within the next three years, a significant portion of our agricultural land can be transformed with relatively modest investment. This could substantially increase the market value of agricultural production potentially by three times or more while connecting Sri Lanka to strong and sustained global demand.
Therefore, if you have surplus capital and are looking for strong future returns, I believe we should not limit our investments only to bank deposits and Treasury Bills. We should seriously consider investing in the transformation of Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector.
Today, there is already strong international demand for Sri Lankan agricultural crops and value-added agricultural products. Agricultural exports recorded significant growth in 2025:
Coconut products: +42% – USD 1.2 billion
Fruits: +21% – USD 36 million
Vegetables: +20% – USD 50 million
Other export crops: +57% – USD 102 million
The challenge we face today is not demand.
The real challenge is production capacity, productivity and inefficiencies across the value chain.
My request to exporters is this:
At a time when you have strong global demand, this is the moment to continuously invest in backward integration.
Your future supply requirements both in terms of consistency and quality cannot continue to depend entirely on fragmented and unorganised networks of agricultural producers and layers of intermediaries.
We need to transform the agricultural value chain through models such as:
Outgrower Models
Farmer Cooperatives
Buy-Back Agreements
Technology Partnerships
Through these approaches, we can drive this transformation within the next few years.
Sri Lanka has the land.
We have the farmers.
We have the global demand.
What we need now is investment, technology, organisation and strong partnerships to unlock the full potential of Sri Lankan agriculture.
Chathuranga Abeysinghe
Deputy Minister of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development