⚠️ Climate Threat Hits Agriculture: Urgent Action Needed to Avert Food Crisis 📈

• Key Climate Impacts & Risks • NOAA reports >90% probability of a very strong El Niño event ahead. • Past precedent: Nov 2025 Cyclone Ditwah damaged ~106,000 ha of paddy (~20% of cultivated Maha area), affecting 227,000+ farmers and leaving >1.1 Mn people needing urgent food & agricultural aid. • Economic vulnerability: 28% of the population was moderately acutely food insecure during the 2022 economic crisis; future shocks threaten paddy, maize, vegetables, fruits, and plantation crops. • Policy vs. Execution Gap • Sri Lanka has frameworks like NDC 3.0 (2026–2035) for climate-resilient agriculture, but responses remain reactive (relief, compensation, emergency imports). • Government established high-level coordination; Parliament’s Climate Caucus calls for Anticipatory Crisis Governance. • 7 Priority Actions for Resilience • Operationalize climate-risk data (seasonal/sub-seasonal forecasts) for farmers. • Prepare seasonal contingency plans & secure seeds/planting materials before shocks. • Build an integrated national climate-risk data platform across state agencies. • Diversify production beyond reliance on narrow planting windows. • Strengthen post-harvest protection (cold chains, milk chilling, processing, storage). • Accelerate breeding of heat-, flood-, and drought-tolerant crop varieties. • Redesign water infrastructure (restore tank-cascades, watersheds, and catchments).