Abstract:
Banana farming in Sri Lanka has been identified as a potential alternative sub-sector to make
dynamism in the rural economy. However, this sector still remains predominantly traditional in
most parts of the country. As such, it was identified that the attention of researchers should be
granted for collecting evidence-based suggestions to make this sector more dynamic in the
economy. This paper examined the relationship between entrepreneurial skills of banana farmers
and their farmer performance using entrepreneurial skill variables of farmers and farmer
performance variables namely profitability, financial performance, marketing orientation and
productivity. Finally, the study found that collective action and cooperation, readiness to change
and innovativeness, and visionary and profit oriented nature had a significant association with
the farmer performance factors. The strongest relationships remain between collective action
and cooperation, readiness to change, innovativeness and the farm productivity. Therefore, it is
recommended to use these variables as the policy variables that can activate this alternative
subsector of the rural economy.
