Abstract:
Sri Lanka produces around one million nineteen thousand metric tons of fruits annually, and the
contribution of fruits to export market is indeed unsatisfactory because it contributes only
0.04% of the total world exports. Moreover, Sri Lanka exports to limited destinations with
difficulties in meeting the stringent safety and quality requirements of importing countries. Our
research focus was to determine the role of quality standards and certifications in export oriented fresh fruits sector. A total of 30 fresh fruits exporting value chains that have registered
in Export Development Board (EDB) was selected based on Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara,
Monaragala, Anuradhapura, Kurunagala, Hambantota and Matale districts. Key informant
interviews, focus group discussions, and interviewer-administered questionnaires were used to
collect primary data. Exporters were selected from purposive techniques. Intermediates and
farmers were selected by using the snowball sampling technique. Descriptive statistics,
frequency, chai-square and relative important index were used as data analysis techniques.
Results revealed that the majority of the Sri Lankan exporters use ISO 22000, HACCP and EU
Organics and the majority of fruits exports more concentrate among the Middle East and Asian
region while huge market opportunity is available in the EU market. In the fresh fruits exporting
value chain, the awareness level of the upper stream is lower than the downstream.
Intermediaries act as a barrier to adopting proper quality standards and certifications in the
fresh fruits exporting sector in Sri Lanka. Less transparency in following proper quality
standards and certifications requirements in the upper stream cause to limits the export market.
Providing safety and quality standards and certification guidelines in local languages (Sinhala or
Tamil) play a remarkable role to penetrate the knowledge level in the upper stream of the fresh
fruits exporting sector. Further, marinating proper traceability and transparency throughout the
fruits export value chain increases the trust in the global market at the exporter level.
