1. SAPSRI’s Experiment on Bio Intensive Farming for Achieving Food Security in the Dry Zone
M U A Tennakoon, Executive Director, South Asia Partnership Sri Lanka
K M M Sasika Konara, Project Officer, South Asia Partnership Sri Lanka
“The world needs to produce at least 50% more food to feed 9 billion people by 2050. But
climate change could cut crop yields by more than 25%. The land, biodiversity, oceans, forests,
and other forms of natural capital are being depleted at unprecedented rates. Unless we
change how we grow our food and manage our natural capital, food security especially for
the world’s poorest, will be at risk” – (World Bank -2014)
The causes of the food crisis are complex and interlocking, as drought, floods, numerous
animal diseases, high fuel prices, growing global demand (particularly from the large,
emerging economies of China and India), unfair world trade rules and climate change are all
playing a part each. Food prices have risen 83% since 2005, and the world’s poorest people
are struggling to cope with. The present situation in the food producing countries indicates
that there is a shortage of food production. Years of under-investment in agriculture in
poorer countries, and unfair trade rules and farming policies, are also having a huge impact
on the world food crisis.
Climate Change & Food Security
Climate change is already happening and will pose great economic, social and environmental
threats to the world. Climate change affects all physical aspects, making rainfall vagaries less
unpredictable, changing the character of the seasons and increasing occurrence of floods,
drought and gale, wind forces, including tsunami. Some climate change projections have
been made by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change. Scientific evidence from
numerous sources indicates that global climate change is taking place rapidly. This implies
that the present generation, as well as the future generations, will have to face the impact of
climate change. Most Scientists are almost unanimous now that pending changes in climate
patterns would be global in scope and scale. It is widely agreed that developing countries
would face greater hardships and within them also, poorer communities in particular are
more vulnerable. Various studies have underscored the importance of effective mitigation
measures ‘to cope with climate change’ and the necessity of appropriate adjustments to
cope with pending changes.
Sri Lanka is exposed to a variety of climate-related hazards, including floods,landslides,
drought, and storms. Extreme climate events can have detrimental effects on people’s
livelihoods in terms of destruction of assets and incomes of the poorest households,
particularly in drought sensitive dry zone, as well as in the coastal areas. The dry zone which
covers about 2/3 of the country’s land area is important in future agricultural development
because it is where the land is available for agricultural expansion. This area receives a mean
annual rainfall of less than 1,900 mm. Sri Lanka has been making a concerted effort to

2. improve its agricultural sector over the past several decades since independence in 1948. The
nagging question is why it has not given the desired outcome despite the large investments
made to develop the agriculture sector.
A Tank Based Biodiversity Improvement and Protection Project
The keenness shown to increase food production has been a cause for deterioration of the
physical environment including biodiversity in the dry zone. With the support of the UNDP
Global Environment Facility (GEF), South Asia Partnership Sri Lanka (SAPSRI) selected
Alisthana, a tank village in the Thirappane Divisional Secretariat in Anuradhapura District and
started a tank-based biodiversity improvement and protection project as a pilot project in
June 2014. This project mainly focuses on protecting the tank eco-system and promoting
organic paddy farming and home gardening as income generation in this tank-based village
settlement. A cascade-based tank village has 37 components already identified (Tennakoon,
2012). Of these six components in the Alisthana tank village have been identified for the
implementation of this project, namely, the reforestation of the tree girdle around the tank
to minimize the tank water evaporation; development of a part of a reed-bed the silt trap to
minimize silt accumulation in the tank; development of the murky meadow locally known as
‘kattakaduwa’ at the outer toe of the tank bund to arrest salt/alkali water freely flowing into
the paddy field further downstream and planting salt succulent trees to minimize the salt
content in that water body; increase of fish density in the tank; promotion of organic paddy
cultivation and development of home gardens to increase the villagers’ economic returns
with an effective garden vegetation cover, improving the micro climate around the
settlement all round. A home garden has food and money.
Why bio intensive farming for the dry zone
In consultation with Mr. Hemantha Abeywaradhana, a bio-intensive farming practitioner of
Ecology Action, SAPSRI has introduced a new home gardening culture to the Alisthana village.
Bio intensive farming is a self-help food raising method based on building and maintaining
soil fertility without using chemicals. Bio intensive farming method dating back to 4000 years
in China, 200 years in Greece, and 300 years in Europe. It was synthesized and brought to the
U.S by the English master horticulturist, Alan Chadwick, then further developed and
documented by Ecology Action. According to the Ecology Action, bio-intensive farming
advantages are: 67% to 80% less water, 50% to 100% less fertilizer and 99% less energy use
than in commercial agriculture, which are appropriate for the dry zone agricultural
communities to adapt. As a result of introducing bio intensive farming technics,
approximately 300 direct and indirect project beneficiaries have been benefited from organic
home garden activities. SAPSRI has been able to train project beneficiaries to take them to
zero chemical use in their home gardens. The most significant achievement is that the

3. Alisthana community is engaging in home gardening throughout the year using less water
than earlier.
The effort of SAPSRI team has achieved significant result in Alisthana in biodiversity
improvement and protection and achieving food security with best farming practices.
Alisthana community is growing its gardens organically, which improve their food practices.
This community has gained an economic benefit through cutting down food expenses. More
than 20 families are meeting their family vegetable needs from their own home gardens
benefiting economically.
Throughout the Tank-based pilot project in Alisthana, SAPSRI has evolved a new development
strategy around the tank based settlements in the dry zone, with social, economic and
environmental concerns. Moreover, this pilot project will be a lesson to the future climate
change adaptations in the dry zone.