Roots in Kalawana and Ratnapura, Sri Lanka - Supporting business opportunities and partnerships in the agriculture and plantation sectors - IOE
Derived from the sap of the fishtail palm that grows widely all over Sri Lanka, kithul syrup is used as a sweetener in Sri Lankan cuisine. Pradeep lives in a small village of farmers in Kalawana District, and in 2016, he started tapping kithul trees for a living. He now sells kithul products to a company called Lanka Eco Products Ltd.
Not far from Pradeep, in Ratnapura District, Nadeeka cultivates flowers and sells them to a company that liaises with local producers buying their cultivation and then selling it in local and international markets.
In this episode, Roots visited the IFAD-supported Smallholder Agribusiness Partnerships Programme, which helps small farmers like Pradeep and Nadeeka, to expand their business opportunities in the agriculture sector.