Integrated Innovations: How Technology Can Rescue Sri Lanka’s Food and Energy Future

  • By Hiran Daluwatte
Hiran Daluwatta – Founder of Noteworthy Global

Sri Lanka’s on-going struggle with intertwined food, energy, and economic crises has spotlighted the vulnerabilities faced by tropical island nations. Between 2019 and 2022, extreme poverty in Sri Lanka quadrupled, according to the World Bank, while nearly 33% of households were left grappling with acute food insecurity. The nation’s collapse is not isolated but rather emblematic of broader systemic fragilities across the Global South — especially in small island states that are highly exposed to global market fluctuations and climate change.

As Sri Lanka charts its path forward, integrated technological solutions offer not just hope, but a blueprint for resilient recovery.

Sri Lanka’s Dual Crisis: Food and Energy Systems Under Siege

  1. Food Security Challenges

The food sector, once a pillar of the Sri Lankan economy, teetered on collapse after the government’s sudden fertilizer import ban in 2021. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated a 40–50% decline in rice yields in 2022, forcing the country to pivot heavily toward costly imports. Meanwhile, climate variability — particularly recurrent droughts and floods — has severely affected both rice and vegetable harvests, and strained hydropower systems, which account for around 35% of Sri Lanka’s electricity generation.

Malnutrition is surging. The World Food Programme (WFP) reports that more than 50% of Sri Lankan households now rely on food coping strategies, such as meal reduction and skipping meals, worsening nutritional deficits especially among children and pregnant women.

  1. Energy Demand Pressures

On the energy front, Sri Lanka’s overdependence on imported fossil fuels (accounting for 85% of fuel consumption) rendered the grid vulnerable when foreign exchange shortages hit in 2022, causing rolling blackouts. Aging thermal plants, primarily fueled by imported coal and oil, have remained the dominant source of electricity despite the government’s ambitious 70% renewable energy target by 2030.

However, progress on solar and wind projects has lagged due to financial constraints, policy delays, and technical challenges, leaving hydropower — itself highly climate-sensitive — as the unreliable fallback.

Technological Solutions for Food Security

  1. Climate-Resilient Agriculture
  • Precision farming using sensor-driven drip irrigation and micro-sprinklers could significantly improve water-use efficiency. Trials by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Sri Lanka’s dry zone have shown potential water savings of up to 30%, while boosting yields by 15–20%.
  • Vertical farming, such as hydroponic systems pioneered by Flex Farms in the Caribbean, offers a viable model. These soil-free farms require 95% less water and are highly resilient to climate shocks — an ideal solution for drought-prone districts like Jaffna and Anuradhapura.
  • Drought-resistant crop varieties, bred through programs like the Pacific Community’s Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT), can be adapted for Sri Lankan conditions. Crossbreeding efforts could stabilize local rice, mung bean, and vegetable yields under changing climatic conditions.
  1. Supply Chain Modernization
  • Blockchain technology can help digitize Sri Lanka’s agricultural supply chains, increasing transparency, reducing post-harvest losses (currently estimated at 30–40% by the FAO), and connecting smallholders directly to urban and export markets.
  • AI-driven crop forecasting, modeled on the CommonSensing satellite project in Fiji, could enable farmers to make real-time, informed decisions, optimizing planting and harvesting schedules, and mitigating losses from extreme weather events.

Renewable Energy Innovations

  1. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)

Sri Lanka, with consistent 30°C surface ocean temperatures and deep cold waters off its coasts, is uniquely positioned to tap into Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) — a renewable, 24/7 baseload power source.

The EU-funded PLOTEC project successfully demonstrated a storm-resistant floating OTEC platform in the Canary Islands, generating stable electricity even during extreme weather events. Adopting similar systems could allow Sri Lanka to harness up to 1 GW of power, drastically reducing diesel imports and cutting carbon emissions.

  1. Hybrid Solar-Hydro Systems
  • Floating solar farms on reservoirs can simultaneously generate clean electricity and reduce evaporation. The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has already initiated a 100 MW floating solar project on hydropower reservoirs, with potential to scale further.
  • Solar microgrids powering cold storage hubs, such as India’s award-winning Solar Freeze model, could prevent the loss of up to 50% of fruits and vegetables post-harvest, safeguarding livelihoods for Sri Lanka’s 500,000 rural farmers.
  1. Waste-to-Energy Systems

Biogas plants converting agricultural waste — such as rice husks, coconut shells, and banana peels — could generate up to 15% of rural household electricity needs, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), while simultaneously reducing methane emissions from decaying biomass.

Synergistic Innovations: Linking Energy and Food Systems

Energy for food production must become a central policy objective. For instance, OTEC-powered desalination plants could provide up to 10,000 liters of fresh water per day, facilitating year-round vertical farming in arid zones such as Jaffna, Mannar, and Kilinochchi.

Circular economies offer another opportunity. Using biochar made from rice husks as an organic fertilizer can close critical nutrient loops, improving soil health, increasing carbon sequestration, and reducing reliance on expensive chemical imports.

Barriers and Policy Recommendations

Key Barriers

  • High upfront capital costs for technologies like OTEC and floating solar farms.
  • Fragmented innovation ecosystems, limiting cross-island knowledge sharing.
  • Limited access to finance for smallholders to adopt AgTech solutions.

Strategic Policy Actions

  • Subsidies and concessional loans for solar irrigation pumps, precision agriculture tools, and microgrids — modeled on proposals by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and international best practices.
  • Regional partnerships, particularly with India, for enhanced grid interconnection, training centers for AgTech, and technology transfers.
  • Redirecting fossil fuel subsidies towards the deployment of solar microgrids, hybrid systems, and OTEC pilots, prioritizing vulnerable sectors like fishing and farming communities.

Conclusion: A Blueprint for Tropical Resilience

Sri Lanka’s geographic strengths — abundant sunlight, rich ocean thermal gradients, and diverse arable lands — uniquely position it to become a model for integrated climate resilience. Technologies such as OTEC, vertical farming, AI-based agriculture, and floating solar systems are not futuristic luxuries but critical investments.

Building a circular economy, investing in energy-for-food systems, and fostering regional innovation hubs could transform vulnerabilities into opportunities, ensuring that Sri Lanka — and other tropical island nations — not only recover but thrive amidst 21st-century challenges.

Success will ultimately depend on a people-centered approach — empowering smallholders, fishermen, and rural communities to be the architects of a sustainable, food- and energy-secure future.