Sri Lanka

Once a top coffee exporter until leaf rust struck in 1869, Sri Lanka now grows a little arabica, mostly on smallholdings, in central highland districts.

Sri Lanka was among the world's three largest coffee producers by 1860, with plantings peaking at 111,400 hectares in 1870, before coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix) struck from 1869. By 1900 only about 4,610 hectares remained and tea had replaced coffee on many estates. Modern output is small and the counts differ. FAO data summarised on Wikipedia give 7,688 tons in 2019, while Department of Export Agriculture figures quoted in a Sri Lankan business paper give 2,537 tons in 2022 from 4,787 hectares. Nearly 80% is said to come from smallholdings. Arabica is recommended for the up-country districts of Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Matale and Badulla, and sources put its altitude floor between 400 and 800 m.

History

Coffee is reported to have reached Ceylon around 1503 with Arab traders, and the Dutch made the first systematic attempt at cultivation in 1740, with trials at Highwalton Estate in Matale. The British arrived in 1796 and took control in 1815, and the first plantation in the Kandyan highlands followed in 1827. Ceylon ranked among the three largest producers by 1860 and plantings peaked at 111,400 hectares in 1870. Coffee leaf rust struck from 1869 and went on for about 20 years, and by 1900 tea had replaced coffee on many estates. Today coffee is a small crop, partly grown as an intercrop with tea and coconut.