Experimentation in crop diversification in Ceylon, on…

Experimentation in crop diversification in Ceylon, on a moderate level in the years before the collapse of the coffee market, becomes of greater importance as the nineteenth century draws to a close.

Responding to international market trends, planters attempt to diversify the crops they produce to insulate their revenues from world price fluctuations.

Not all their experiments are successful.

The first sugar plantation is established in 1837, but sugar cultivation is not well-suited to the island and will never be very successful.

Cocoa is also tried for a time and will continue as one of the lesser exports.

Rubber, which was introduced in 1837, will become a major export during the slump in the tea export market in the 1900s.

The rubber export trade will exceed that of tea during the First World War, but after suffering severe losses during the depression of the 1930s, rubber exports will never again regain their preeminent position.