Animal Feed Production in Sri Lanka: Past Present and Future

Abstract

Feed production for ruminants and nonruminants is quite different and therefore discussed under two separate sections in this chapter. There had been no habit of cultivating forage in Sri Lanka, thus ruminants are largely fed on naturally grown grasses available in different types of natural grasslands, roadsides, marginal lands, paddy bunds, home gardens, fallow paddy fields, and coconut lands. The quantity as well as quality of forage available in these sources are not adequate. However, with the introduction of European breeds of dairy cattle to medium/large-scale farms in the recent past, there is a growing trend in cultivating improved varieties of fodders such as Napior, fodder maize, and fodder sorghum. Production of grass silage is becoming popular but hay production is almost absent. Commercial feed production in Sri Lanka is limited to concentrate feeds which caters mainly to poultry subsector. Only a small quantity (4%) of the compounded feeds produced are fed to cattle, pigs, goats, shrimp, and others. Compounded feed industry heavily depends on imported feed raw materials which makes the feed costly. Therefore, there had been an increasing trend of producing feeds by farmers themselves although there are sufficient number of large-scale feed mills established in the country. The total compounded feed production has been doubled during the past decade, exceeding 1 million MT during the year 2016. The main raw materials produced locally include maize, rice polish, and coconut poonac, but the supply is insufficient. The animal feed production in Sri Lanka is totally handled by the private sector, and the government does the regulatory work. As the poultry subsector is growing rapidly and continuously, the demand for compounded feeds will continue to increase. However, availability of concentrate feed raw materials as well as forage will be limited in the future. Therefore, use of alternate feed resources and increasing feed efficiency will be a must to fill the gap.