Sri Lanka has registered 36 spice-producing agricultural villages in Kandy District under a government programme intended to increase export crop production, with Rs. 104 million allocated for implementation during 2026.
The Department of Export Agriculture confirmed the district-level figures in an announcement published on October 25.
The programme forms part of the national Export Agriculture Development initiative, which seeks to organise growers into producer groups and improve cultivation and processing facilities.
The registered villages will receive support for agricultural development, although the department has not published individual village allocations.
Rs. 104 million allocated across the district
The department has identified 36 registered agricultural clusters in Kandy.
The total allocation for the district is Rs. 104 million.
Calculations by Lakbima News show that an equal distribution would amount to approximately Rs. 2.89 million per registered village.
That figure provides a comparison between the announced budget and the number of villages.
It does not establish how the department intends to divide expenditure between individual locations.
36: Registered agricultural cluster villages.
Rs. 104 million: District allocation for 2026.
Rs. 2.89 million: Calculated average per village if the allocation were divided equally.
2026: Year in which the programme began operating.
Producer societies to coordinate cultivation
The programme requires selected villages to establish agricultural producer societies.
These societies are intended to be registered with the Department of Export Agriculture and support the organisation of growers.
The department plans to expand cultivation of export crops, improve existing spice-growing areas and support home-garden production.
Arecanut cultivation is also included in the programme.
The announcement does not identify how many farmers have joined the registered villages or how much land will be brought into additional production.
Without those figures, the district allocation cannot yet be translated into an expenditure estimate per farmer or per hectare.
Processing equipment and irrigation support
The government intends to provide support for irrigation systems and investments in equipment used to process harvested crops.
Seeds and planting materials will be supplied without charge under the programme.
Training and other agricultural development activities are also planned.
Processing equipment can affect the commercial value of agricultural produce by improving preparation and handling after harvesting.
The department has not published a list of equipment to be purchased for the 36 villages or the value of individual investment grants.
The announced allocation covers several activities, making it inappropriate to treat the full Rs. 104 million as direct cash assistance to farmers.
Export targets remain undisclosed
The programme is intended to increase production capacity and improve connections between agricultural communities and markets.
The department has not provided a target for additional export earnings from Kandy District.
It also has not announced expected increases in crop yields or the number of commercial buyers participating in the programme.
Those measurements will be necessary to assess whether the investment produces higher agricultural output and additional income for participating growers.
The new agricultural clusters form part of a wider government effort to expand productive investment.
The Kandy programme has reached the village-registration stage and has a stated district allocation. The government’s October 25 announcement does not establish how much of that allocation has already been spent.
