Why food system resilience matters more than production alone in Sri Lanka

The discussions on food security in Sri Lanka have traditionally centered on one dominant question: how to produce more food. Increasing overall production, expanding cultivated areas, and improving yields have long been considered the primary pathways to ensuring national food availability. Yet recent experiences have revealed a more complex reality. There have been seasons when production levels were reasonably stable, but food prices continued to rise, market shortages emerged, and consumers struggled to access affordable and nutritious food. This apparent contradiction highlights an important truth: food security is not determined by production alone.

Climate variability and climate change have begun to reshape agriculture across the country in ways that are not always immediately visible. Unpredictable rainfall patterns, prolonged dry spells, and sudden floods increasingly disrupt planting decisions and harvest outcomes. Farmers today are not merely managing crops, they are managing uncertainty. These changes do not always lead to complete crop failure, but more often result in unstable and unpredictable yields, making farm planning and input decisions far more difficult. In crops such as rice and vegetables, even small shifts in the timing of rainfall can influence nutrient availability, insect pest dynamics, and weed pressure, ultimately affecting overall crop performance and management decisions. Farmers are therefore compelled to make decisions under uncertain conditions, often prioritising short-term risk reduction rather than long-term productivity.

However, even when production is successful, another set of challenges emerges beyond the farm. A significant portion of food produced in Sri Lanka never reaches consumers in a usable form. Losses occur during harvesting, handling, transport, storage, and marketing, particularly in perishable commodities such as fruits and vegetables. A clear example was observed during the recent cyclone-related disruptions, when vegetable prices increased sharply in low-country markets despite adequate harvests remaining in upcountry production areas. The issue was not insufficient production, but disruptions in transport, market linkages, and buyer access, along with weak information flow between producers and markets. It prevented agricultural produce from moving efficiently from farms to markets, thus affecting rural-urban connectivity. It is not uncommon to observe produce discarded in producing areas during peak seasons while urban markets simultaneously experience high prices and limited availability. It is a situation frequently observed in seasonal vegetable markets in recent years. Such situations reveal that weaknesses in the food system, rather than shortages in production, often determine food availability and affordability.

Food quality and nutritional value are also affected along this journey from farmer-field to consumer-plate. Poor storage conditions, exposure to high temperatures, the distance that food travels from the producer to reach the consumer (food miles), and inadequate processing practices accelerate spoilage and reduce nutrient retention. As climate change and variability increase ambient temperatures and disrupt supply chains, these losses are likely to become more pronounced. Simply producing more food under such conditions does not necessarily improve nutrition or food access. Ensuring that food remains safe, stable, and nutritious after harvest, therefore, becomes as important as producing it in the first place.

Globally, the understanding of the concept of food security has evolved in response to similar challenges. Many countries have shifted their focus from maximising production alone to strengthening the resilience of entire food systems, the ability of food supply chains to withstand climatic, economic, and logistical shocks while continuing to function effectively. In the Netherlands, success in the agriculture sector is often associated with high productivity, coupled with investments in postharvest management, cold-chain logistics, and value-added processing. These systems allow food to move efficiently from producers to consumers with minimal loss, ensuring stability even when production fluctuates. Japan offers another example, where strong emphasis on food preservation, efficient distribution, and quality control has enabled the country to maintain food stability despite limited agricultural land and frequent climatic disturbances. Closer to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh has demonstrated how investments in improved storage, climate-resilient crop management, and community-level adaptation can reduce vulnerability even under severe environmental pressures.

The lessons from these experiences are not that production is less important, but that production alone cannot guarantee food security. Resilience emerges when production, processing, storage, distribution, and consumption are considered as interconnected components of a single system. When food losses are minimised, when seasonal surpluses can be stored or processed effectively, when supply chains remain functional despite climatic disruptions, and when food miles are shorter, food availability becomes more stable without necessarily increasing the total output.

For Sri Lanka, this perspective presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The country possesses a strong agricultural research base, growing expertise in food science and technology, and an expanding food processing sector with the support of the private sector. Integrating these strengths can help move the national goal beyond short-term production targets towards long-term food system stability. Strengthening storage infrastructure, encouraging value addition from locally produced crops, improving postharvest handling practices, reducing the distance that food travels, and reducing food waste can collectively enhance food availability and affordability while supporting farmer livelihoods.

As climate uncertainty becomes an increasingly permanent feature of agriculture, redefining food security becomes essential. Efforts focused solely on increasing production may provide temporary relief, but they cannot address vulnerabilities arising from inefficiencies and disruptions along the food supply chain. A resilient food system requires coordinated attention to farming practices, postharvest management, food processing, distribution efficiency, and nutrition outcomes.

Ultimately, food system resilience is not only an agricultural concern but a national priority linked to economic stability, public health, and social well-being. In a changing climate, the question facing Sri Lanka is no longer how to produce more food alone, but how to ensure that the food produced reaches people consistently, safely, quickly, and sustainably. Recognising this shift in thinking will be essential if Sri Lanka is to build a truly food-secure and climate-resilient future.

(Author Dr. H.K.B.S. Chamara, is Senior Lecturer, Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura; Dr. D.W.M.M.M. Kumari, is Senior Lecturer, Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura and Prof. Buddhi Marambe is Senior Professor, Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya)