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POLICY AND PRACTICE REVIEWS article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

Sec. Agro-Food Safety

Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1645848

This article is part of the Research TopicThe impact of environmental factors and farming practices on agri-food quality, safety, and authenticity in the context of climate changeView all articles

Livestock and Poultry Production in Sri Lanka: Challenges and Strategies for Climate-Resilient Food Security

Provisionally accepted
Hasitha  PriyashanthaHasitha Priyashantha1*T  SeresinheT Seresinhe2Indunil  PathiranaIndunil Pathirana2Gayathri  GunawardanaGayathri Gunawardana3G  L L P SilvaG L L P Silva3Ashen  Epa ArachchiAshen Epa Arachchi3Shishanthi  JayarathnaShishanthi Jayarathna1J  K VidanarachchiJ K Vidanarachchi3
  • 1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 2University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka
  • 3University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Livestock and poultry production is critical to Sri Lanka's food security, providing essential animal-sourced proteins, contributing to economic growth, and supporting rural livelihoods. This review examines the current status, challenges, and opportunities within the livestock and poultry sectors in Sri Lanka. Key performance indicators such as production growth, accessibility, affordability, and disease management are analysed to assess the industry's resilience. The study highlights the impact of economic fluctuations, feed price volatility, policy constraints, and climate change on the industry. Integrating climate-resilient strategies into Sri Lanka's livestock and poultry sectors is essential to enhance sustainability. Key approaches include breeding heat-tolerant animals, introducing climate-smart feeds and nutritional strategies, improving water conservation, adopting climate-resilient housing systems, implementing sustainable waste management, utilising renewable energy sources, enhancing farmer capacity through training and policy support, and strengthening disease surveillance and biosecurity measures. Implementing these strategies will improve productivity, reduce environmental impact, and enhance resilience against climate extremes. The review also explores the role of integrated livestock systems, digital technologies, and export potential in further strengthening the sector by guiding policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders in developing sustainable and climate-resilient solutions. Addressing these challenges through data-driven policies, farmer empowerment, and investment in innovation is essential to achieving a resilient and self-sufficient livestock industry in Sri Lanka.

Keywords: Climate resilience, Economic stability, Disease Management, Feed resources, sustainability

Received: 12 Jun 2025; Accepted: 08 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Priyashantha, Seresinhe, Pathirana, Gunawardana, Silva, Arachchi, Jayarathna and Vidanarachchi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Hasitha Priyashantha, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

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