Planters' Association urges state action over widespread crop theft

The systematic theft of high-value agricultural crops poses a serious economic threat to Sri Lanka, the Planters’ Association of Ceylon warned as it called for urgent government intervention. Unchecked losses are deterring investment, eroding export competitiveness, and putting the livelihoods of farmers at risk.

Organised networks across plantation districts target pepper, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla, and avocado. Regional Plantation Companies and smallholder growers report increasing losses that wipe out entire seasons of work, with security expenses running into tens of millions of rupees. In several cases, farmers and estate managers abandoned expansion plans entirely after concluding that returns could not justify the risk.

Financial damage extends well beyond stolen harvests, with total sector losses estimated in the millions as verified data is collected.

Stripping operations run with high coordination, often clustering around full-moon nights to work without lights. Teams clear cinnamon sections within hours or harvest up to 50 kilograms of pepper from single vines before dawn, quickly moving stolen produce into untraceable informal supply channels.

One company spent approximately 20 million rupees protecting a single crop over three months. These recurring operational burdens fall entirely on producers, placing Sri Lankan estates at a severe disadvantage against lower-cost competitors in Vietnam, India, and Kenya, while depriving the state of tax revenue.

Investor confidence in pepper and cardamom production took a direct hit. Several trial growers pulled back from pepper expansion following sustained theft, while one company abandoned plans to extend an 18-hectare cardamom project after deploying security watchers for years at unsustainable costs.

State ambitions to boost agricultural exports and attract sector investment remain unachievable while ground conditions make high-value crop production an unacceptable risk.

Existing legal penalties fail to deter offenders because statutory fines represent a fraction of the stolen property's value. When punishments cost less than the crime, the law becomes ineffective.

Technological measures failed to resolve the issue. Power cuts defeat close-circuit television systems, intruders circumvent fingerprint controls, and drones face operational barriers in shaded or windy terrain. Physical security infrastructure, including fencing, frequently becomes a target for theft itself.

Government action must focus on revising penalties, enforcing meaningful sentences, and developing a traceability framework for informal supply chains to track stolen produce. National agricultural policy needs to formally recognise crop theft and allocate appropriate enforcement resources.

Verified loss data from smallholder and estate operations will be submitted to relevant ministries shortly.

Sri Lanka possesses the climate, land, and expertise to excel in high-value crop exports, but farmers cannot build a future when an entire season's work disappears overnight, the Planters’ Association of Ceylon said, framing the issue as a structural problem requiring a structural response.