The Government of Sri Lanka has accorded considerable importance to fruit cultivation and in recent years, efforts have been made to encourage projects in that important segment of the agricultural sector.

Hence a number of such projects have developed under the aegis of the BOI, the investment promotion agency of the Government, which is responsible for the attraction and management of Foreign Direct Investment and local investment.

There are currently 59 BOI agricultural projects in commercial operation of which 20 are in fruit cultivation.

It is important to note that these projects are involved in sectors such fruit processing, fruit juice, bottle and tinned fruits which are aimed at both the domestic and export markets.

Recently, Chairman/Director General of the BOI Dhammika Perera had identified strawberry cultivation as one sector with potential to become a major foreign exchange earner.

Investors were therefore encouraged to invest in projects in the cultivation of fruit.

Since many of these future projects would be located outside the Western Province, they would qualify for the incentives awarded under the BOI’s Nipayun Sri Lanka (also known as the 300 Enterprise Programme) which has created opportunities in outlying regions.

In addition if they are established in the Eastern and Northern Provinces, such projects would benefit from the additional incentives scheme developed by the BOI to uplift the two conflict affected provinces.

A successful example of an enterprise that has excelled in fruit cultivation is Ramya Horticulture (Pvt) Ltd, one of the pioneers in strawberry cultivation.

Their farm is located at Ambewala to benefit from yearlong cool weather. The company grows the California and Dutch varieties of strawberries that yield fruit of 40 mm in length. These take between 7 and 12 months to grow in the company’s 7 poly tunnels.

The first poly tunnel was built in 2001 and was initially used for high value vegetable cultivation. Ramya Horticulture has plans to build 7 more poly tunnels.

The Agricultural Research Institute in Bandarawala has described strawberries as a fruit that is difficult to grow, as it needs to be continually monitored for protection from diseases. Strawberries may be grown in Nuwara Eliya, Ohiya and Ragala.

The annual yield per plant is 450-500g per plant. The quality of the strawberries grown by this company meets very high international standards. Strawberries grown by Ramya Horticulture supply leading hotels in Colombo and well known supermarkets in Colombo under the brand name of "Lush".