Abstract:
Vegetable production subsector plays an important role in food and nutritional security,
employment, and reduction of rural poverty in Sri Lanka. Successful cultivation of vegetable crops
usually requires intensive management because of the requirement of special management
practices, fertilization, irrigation, and frequent crop scouting to manage pests, diseases, and
weeds. However, the measures taken to curtail the spread of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
such as travel restrictions, import controls, policy alterations, associated supply chain disruptions
and economic crisis are discussed to impact the production of vegetable crops in the public
domain. To assess the validity of this general perception, we used the national scale data on the
extent of cultivation and total production of 13 vegetable crops namely, Tomato, Brinjal, Okra,
Snake gourd, Bitter gourd, Red pumpkin, Ash pumpkin, Beans, Cabbage, Capsicum, Carrot,
Beetroot and Raddish for both Yala (2020) and Maha (2020/21) seasons. The data were obtained
from the Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka and statistically compared to the pre pandemic national scale, long-term average (2001-2019) of the extent of cultivation and
production of the same crops during both seasons. Results showed that, most of the vegetable
crops were resilient to the shocks created by COVID-19 pandemic during Yala 2020 and Maha
2020/21. Although the extent of cultivation decreased for Ash pumpkin, Beet root, Snake gourd
and Radish, the production has increased, highlighting the increased productivity. Travel
restrictions, closure of local markets and work from home lifestyle during the pandemic may have
motivated local growers to produce vegetables at home gardens. Furthermore, several
promotional programs to produce vegetables aiming the food and nutritional security may have
supported for the resilience demonstrated by the vegetable sector despite of market closures and
supply chain disruptions. Future studies should focus on holistically evaluating the effects of this
pandemic on the vegetable production, marketing, and supply chain across the country.
