Shift from Production to Resilience: Sri Lanka’s New Food Security Priority 📈

Recent analysis by leading academics highlights that increasing agriculture output alone is insufficient for food security. Despite stable harvests, volatile prices and shortages persist due to systemic inefficiencies. • Key Systemic Gaps Climate Uncertainty: Unpredictable rainfall and floods are forcing farmers to prioritize short-term risk reduction over long-term productivity. Post-Harvest Losses: A significant portion of rice, fruits, and vegetables never reaches consumers due to poor handling, storage, and transport. Market Disconnect: Regional price spikes occur even during peak harvests due to weak rural-urban connectivity and disrupted supply chains. • Strategic Recommendations Infrastructure: Urgent need for cold-chain logistics and improved storage to reduce spoilage and maintain nutritional value. Value Addition: Scaling the food processing sector and ICT integration to improve market information flow. Systemic Resilience: Moving beyond "more food" to ensure food reaches people safely and consistently, mirroring models in Japan and the Netherlands. The shift toward a resilient food system is viewed as a national priority for economic stability and public health, moving beyond traditional short-term production targets.