Previous                 Philately Goes Bananas                 Next Sri Lanka According to a study published by FAO in 2001, "Banana (Musa spp.) is the most widely cultivated and consumed fruit in Sri Lanka. It is also an attractive perennial fruit crop for farmers due to its high economic gains throughout the year. Even rice fields are being converted to grow banana, as it gives more economic benefits, requires relatively less water and less input than rice, and gives higher returns than rice. .... also the nutritional level in farmers' families has improved due to the habit of increased fruit consumption. . . . Out of the 28 local cultivars, the cultivar Embul (Mysore-AAB) is in the highest demand. Kolikuttu (Silk-AAB) and Ambon (Cavendish-AAA), grown especially in the mid-wet zone of the country, are also in considerable demand. Currently, nearly 50,000 ha of land is under banana cultivation in Sri Lanka, and the annual banana production is around 450,000 metric tonnes. Until recently, banana cultivation was limited to very small plots, but now large fields are being established." By 2017 production had grown to 62 549 tonnes. Skeen Photo post card depicting "Gathering Bananas" from after the U.P.U. divided back era beginning October 1, 1907 allowing a message to be written on the back of the post card. Born in 1847, William Louis Henry Skeen was the son of a photographer, William Skeen, who, in addition to being Ceylon's first Government Printer, was also the owner of a photography studio in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The son was trained at the London School of Photography and returned to the family business about 1862. His work recorded many aspects of life on the island, specialising in photographs documenting coffee and later tea cultivation as well as local people and culture. Skeen died in 1903 but the firm continued until the 1920s. Date of Issue: April 10, 1986 Series: Sinhalese and Tamil New Year Sources Hirimburegama, W.K., W.K.G. Dias and K. Hirimburegama. "Banana improvement through gamma irradiation and testing      for banana bract mosaic virus in Sri Lanka." . 2001. Web. 10 Jun. 2023.      www.fao.org/3/ae216e/ae216e09.htm#TopOfPage "Sri Lanka - Bananas production quantity." World Data Atlas. 2017. Web. 10 Jun. 2023.      knoema.com/atlas/Sri-Lanka/topics/Agriculture/Crops-Production-Quantity-tonnes/Bananas-production "W. L. H. Skeen." Wikipedia. 9 Nov. 2023. Web. 31 Jan. 2024.      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._L._H._Skeen. "William L. H. Skeen." National Galleries Scotland. nd. Web. 31 Jan. 2024.      www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/william-l-h-skeen. Previous                                                Next Return to the Banana Stamps from Around the World Index Page.