The Mahaweli Development Project of Sri Lanka; a failure?

The forest cover of Sri Lanka based on aerial photography, as stated in the Biological Conservation Report of 1993 of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (1UCN) is as follows: 1956 : 44% 1992 : 20.24% The reduction of the forest cover commenced in the British Colonial period with the clearing of forests for the cultivation of coffee. The first coffee plantation of 10 acres was established in 1825, during the tenure of Governor Sir Edward Barnes. (Tennent 1859). In January 1856, the area under coffee was 71300 acres. (Balasigham : ' The administration of Sir. Henry Ward). In the early 1860s, the ' Coffee Boom' collapsed due to ' Black Bug' (Hemeleia Vastarix). In 1867, the first tea plantation of Sri Lanka was established with 10 acres of Loolkandura Estate by Mr. James Jaylor and subsequently coffee was replaced by Tea. The progress of Tea cultivation is started by David Crole in ' Tea' (1897) as follows: 1867 - 10 acres 1877 - 2,720 acres 18...

1.       The MDS was a dictate of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (1BRD). An 1BRD mission visited Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in May 1961 and stated that. The MDS is a promising multipurpose scheme to meet Ceylon's economic needs' (Ref: my 'A critical view of the conception of the MDS' http://Mahawelifailure.blogspot.com.) The government of Ceylon at the time blindly followed the 1BRD. 2.       The statistics of the Agriculture Department for the districtwise paddy production of 2012 is as follows; District Area (hectares) Ampara 132741 Anuradhapura 149353 Badulla 39228 Batticoloa 83357 Colombo 5527 Gampaha 13904 Galle 20180 Hambantota 67251 Jaffna 8755 Kandy 18857 Kegalle 9985 Kilinochchi 26647 Kurunegala 107354 Manner ...