Achievement of self-sufficiency in rice has been the avowed objective of almost all planning exercises in Sri Lanka since independence. The strategy for increasing paddy production has emphasised expansion of cultivated area as well as promotion of land productivity. Expansion of cultivated area could be achieved by bringing new land under cultivation and increasing the intensity of cropping on already cultivated land. The importance of the latter method has been recognised since the fifties but the actual achievements have been rather marginal. The rising cost of land development in recent years has highlighted the importance of this option. The objective of the present paper is to analyse trends in cropping intensity in the paddy sector. Conceptual and measurement problems are outlined first. Evolution of policies on the strategy of raising cropping intensity will be examined in the next section. Recent trends in cropping intensity at the national and regional levels and determinants of cropping intensity form the subject oj the remaining sections.