September 01, Colombo (LNW): Prime Minister Dr Harini Amarasuriya has called for a new approach to global food security that brings together centuries-old knowledge and modern science, rather than treating tradition and innovation as opposing forces.
Addressing the Global Conscious Food Systems Summit 2026 in Bhutan, the Prime Minister said the experience of Sri Lanka offered valuable lessons for countries confronting food insecurity, environmental pressures and changing patterns of consumption.
She pointed to Sri Lanka’s historic tank-village system, or Wewa-Gama cascade network, as an example of how communities once managed natural resources as part of a wider ecological system. Built and progressively developed over almost two millennia, the network of interconnected reservoirs in the country’s dry zone served purposes extending well beyond irrigation.
The tanks supported cultivation, home gardens, forests, livestock and rural settlements, while helping communities adapt to the climatic conditions of the region. Dr Amarasuriya said the system demonstrated an understanding that the prosperity of people could not be separated from the condition of the environment around them.
She also invoked the long-standing principle associated with King Parakramabahu the Great, who is traditionally credited with stressing that water should not be allowed to reach the sea without first being put to productive use.
For the Prime Minister, the significance of that philosophy lies not simply in water management, but in the idea of treating natural resources as a shared responsibility. Agricultural production, forests, biodiversity, settlements and water management were viewed as interconnected rather than as separate concerns.
Sri Lanka’s traditional agricultural heritage has also received international recognition, with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization identifying the country’s tank-village agricultural landscape as a globally important agricultural heritage system.
Dr Amarasuriya said sustainability was similarly reflected in a range of everyday practices. Traditional fishing communities, for instance, used larger-mesh baskets that enabled younger fish to escape and grow, while fish carrying eggs were returned to the water. Hunting customs also placed restrictions on taking young animals and mothers.
In farming areas, practices such as Kurulu Paluwa involved leaving parts of cultivated land available to birds and other wildlife. Such customs, she argued, showed that biodiversity was historically understood as an essential component of a healthy agricultural environment rather than an obstacle to production.
The Prime Minister said the concept of food security in earlier Sri Lankan communities was not limited to producing sufficient quantities. Preservation, careful consumption, minimising waste and maintaining supplies beyond the immediate harvest were equally important.
Yet she cautioned against portraying the past as an ideal that modern societies should simply recreate.
Traditional systems had their shortcomings, she acknowledged, while scientific advances and modern technology have delivered substantial benefits. The challenge, therefore, is to identify the principles from earlier systems that remain relevant and combine them with contemporary knowledge.
Dr Amarasuriya said food systems worldwide had undergone profound changes through colonisation, industrialisation, economic liberalisation and technological development. One visible consequence has been the growing dominance of highly processed and heavily packaged food over fresh produce and meals based on local, seasonal ingredients.
Changing lifestyles have added to the problem, with longer working hours and greater reliance on convenience reducing the time many households can devote to shopping, cooking and preparing meals.
She called for renewed consideration of community kitchens, shared food preparation and other innovative models that could make nutritious, locally produced food easier to access without adding to the pressures already faced by families.
Food waste remains another significant concern in Sri Lanka. Government Sustainable Development Goal monitoring figures indicate that between 20 and 30 per cent of fruit and vegetable production can be lost after harvest, while losses involving grains remain in the region of 10 to 12 per cent.
According to the Prime Minister, tackling such losses requires more than improved infrastructure and technology. It also requires a change in how society values food, from the point at which it is produced to the moment it reaches the consumer.
She further linked changing diets with Sri Lanka’s growing burden of non-communicable diseases. Increased consumption of processed foods alongside increasingly sedentary lifestyles has contributed to health problems such as diabetes, including among younger people.
The repercussions, she said, extend beyond the health sector, placing pressure on household incomes, workforce productivity, agricultural systems and the prospects of future generations.
Dr Amarasuriya ultimately urged governments and communities to move beyond the idea that food policy must choose between heritage and progress.
The way forward, she said, lies in combining the ecological awareness and resource-conscious practices inherited from previous generations with contemporary research, technology and innovation. Such an approach, she argued, could help create food systems that are not only more productive, but healthier, more resilient and capable of serving generations yet to come.