Minister of Agriculture, Rural Economic Affairs, Livestock Development, Irrigation and Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development, P. Harrison says a mechanism for practically communicating the national agricultural policy to the country’s farmer should be instituted urgently.
The Minister made this observation during a discussion held with the regional irrigation engineers in the Anuradhapura district.
Expressing his views, Minister Harrison said a mechanism has not yet been developed to convey results of the research being conducted by the Agriculture Department to the farmer.
“I have instructed University professors and agronomists to prepare agricultural data needed for the country to educate the farmer so that they can decide on what to grow and how much to grow depending on the need of the country.”
“A mechanism to educate the farmer is not yet built. Paddy that takes three to four months is grown in the Yala Season. But, we have done research and discovered paddy varieties that can be harvested in two and a half months. But that knowledge has not been transferred to the farmer. We are trying to creating a mechanism for it,” the Minister explained
Speaking further, the Minister said importing green grams will be completely stopped in the future.
“We expect to cultivate green gram in 15000 acres of land in the Hambantota district by a special project. Then there is no need to import green gram from next year. We have imported about 10,000 metric tons of green gram last year. With the new project in Hambantota, no need to import green gram,” Minister Harrison said.
Also, peanuts are cultivated through the Agricultural Modernization Project in Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts and about 3000 metric tons of yield can be expected.
Importing black gram to the country has completely ceased, the Minister said. “Stopping the import of black gram is a victory for us and it is a great service to uplift the black gram farmer in our country.”
Director General of Irrigation S. Mohan Raja and several officials participated in the occasion held at the Anuradhapura Post Harvest Technology Institute.
