Regional Rice Research and Development Centre (RRRDC) - Bombuwela

RRRDC is Located in Kalutara district (6^o.57”N, 80^o.01”E) and functions under the Rice Research and Development Institute (RRDI), Batalagoda. The research center was initiated as a government farm in 1953 and it was upgraded as Regional Agricultural Research Station in 1976 which conducted research related to all wet zone crops including fruits, vegetable and tuber crops etc. The present Regional Rice Research and Development Centre was formed in 1994 as the result of the restructuring of the Department of Agriculture for catering rice cultivation in the Low Country Wet Zone (LCWZ) in Sri Lanka.

The total cultivable rice land in Sri Lanka is nearly 983,550 ha and approximately 120,000 ha are wet zone lands including LCWZ lands in WL1a, WL1b, WL2a, WL2b and WL3 agro-ecological regions. A major portion of these lands are affected by poor drainage, frequent flooding, dominating weeds and soil-related problems such as coastal salinity, iron toxicity and poor soil fertility. In addition, biotic problems such as Brown Plant Hopper (BPH), Gall Midge (GM), sheath mites, brown spot, Bacterial Leaf Blight (BLB), sheath blight and Blast are emerging threats in rice cultivation. The research centeris responsible for developing and disseminating of technologies to increase the rice productivity in LCWZ consisting Kalutara, Colombo, Gampaha, Galle and Ratnapura districts with special emphasis on problem soils in paddy fields.

At present Additional director of RRRDC Bombuwela overlooks the research and development activities in 3 substations located in southern region of the countryi.e., RRS, Labuduwa, RRS, Bentota and RRS, Ambalantota.

The Centre is engaged in developing high yielding rice varieties with tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses especially tolerant to iron toxicity & submergence. In addition, the research centre conducts research activities in connection to develop technologies for productive and sustainable rice cultivation.