An audit has found that Sri Lanka’s Department of Agrarian Development spent nearly 90 million rupees to construct crop storage facilities intended to support small and medium-scale farmers, yet many of the warehouses remain unused. The eleven storage complexes, built across six districts and later handed over to Agrarian Service Centers, have failed to serve their intended purpose, raising concerns about planning and resource allocation.
The facilities were constructed with financial assistance from the World Bank as part of efforts to strengthen agricultural infrastructure and reduce post-harvest losses. However, audit reports indicate that the warehouses were built without adequately identifying regional demand or consulting stakeholders, resulting in infrastructure that farmers have not utilized.
Auditors noted that the lack of needs assessment led to mismatches between location, capacity, and actual usage patterns, leaving the buildings largely idle despite significant public expenditure. The findings highlight weaknesses in project planning and monitoring within state-led agricultural development initiatives.
In Anuradhapura, construction of a warehouse at the Medawachchiya Agrarian Service Center, costing more than 2.5 million rupees, has not even been completed, according to the report. The unfinished structure further underscores implementation delays and questions over oversight.
The revelations have intensified scrutiny of how development funds are managed in Sri Lanka, particularly projects aimed at supporting the rural farming community, with calls for stronger feasibility assessments and accountability before launching similar infrastructure programs in the future.
