A fact from Coffee production in Sri Lanka appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 1 August 2015 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
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This article is within the scope of WikiProject Sri Lanka, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Sri Lanka on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Sri LankaWikipedia:WikiProject Sri LankaTemplate:WikiProject Sri LankaSri Lanka articles
The are various sources that indicate the first efforts to cultivate coffee by the British, in the then colony of Ceylon. Some indicate that Mr George Bird commenced coffee planting in the Kandy district in 1820 and opened the first coffee estate in Ceylon in 1821. Other sources indicate that clearing of the first coffee plantations, near Gampola, occurred in 1822 and opened in 1824. Dan arndt (talk) 12:28, 18 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
The article makes no reference to the fact that earlier when the island was controlled by the Dutch, they were cultivating coffee there in the late 18th Century. According to a report by Governor Schreuder Coffee succeeded very well in the western parts of the island. It was superior in quality to the coffee of Java, and approached near to that of Arabia, whence the first coffee plants came. The Dutch also introduced seedlings from their Javanese plantations to Sri Lanka. Dan arndt (talk) 12:47, 18 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@ColonialGrid: I wasn't aware that it had been lodged for a DYK. I have tried to address the issues related to Dutch cultivation of coffee on the island. There still needs work on the dates and individuals involved in the British coffee cultivation. I notice that a number of the original references cited don't actually relate to the sentences (i.e. "Gampola governor Edward Barnes created another plantation in Gannoruwa" with reference [6] relating to coffee rust). Apart from the fact that Edward Barnes was the Governor of Ceylon 1824-1831 and if the first commercial plantation wa established in 1827 he wasn't the Governor of Gampola (not that such actually position existed). The acticle is still in need of an overview or major copy/edit. Dan arndt (talk) 02:48, 16 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Dan arndt:@ColonialGrid:@Nvvchar: I've c/e the article but it's unclear to me what is factually disputed as many hands touched this article after I stopped working on it last month. If there are still issues with the article, would you please remove the sentences which are disputed or add a citation tag to them and ping me? Then I'll see if I can figure out a reference or do some more c/e or etc.. Thank you. --Rosiestep (talk) 23:14, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
@Dan arndt: I have now added cites (using existing sources) to address your CN tags. Are there still outstanding issues you have with this article? Or may I now commence the DYK review? ColonialGrid (talk) 06:31, 23 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
