Archives

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Agriculture, Livestock and Samurdhi Minister S. B. Dissanayake said that due to various national policies drafted annually, there is a surfeit of national policies on agriculture. As a result the national policy on agriculture have been in chaos.

The Minister said there is no problem on the vision or plans of the Ministry. But immediate steps have to be taken to organise these proposed plans and move forward under an action plan to achieve the set targets.

Addressing a seminar of Agriculture Development Officers (ADO)at the Public Library auditorium, Colombo yesterday, he said ADO and other ministry officials should change their traditional working methods and move towards a new working atmosphere to uplift the agriculture sector.

At present, there is no possibility to filter down the knowledge of the Agriculture Department to the lower levels while the problems and the crisis in the lower levels do not come to the upper level. This is the massive problem faced in the agriculture sector. The ADOs are the most powerful section who can play a leading role to overcome this situation, he said. Minister Dissanayake said: "A recent seminar conducted with the ministry officials revealed that at present only a 5 per cent contribution has been made to uplift the social status and dignity of the farmers. This indicates the declining position of the farmer who feed all of us and deserves all the things that we depend on. In addition, coordination between the Agrarian Services Centres and the farmers are in a declining stage today."

In this situation, attempts should be made to increase the 5 per cent contribution made towards the farmer community to at least 25 per cent by the end of this year. Strategies should be formulated to transform the farmers as one of the key segments in the country's economy, he said.

The Minister said even today, 40 per cent of the country's people are dependent on agriculture while 70 per cent of the people are directly or indirectly connected to agriculture. Due to lack of any action plan to safeguard the farmers, a severe setback was recorded in the agriculture sector.

Initiatives will be taken to overcome the salary anomalies of the Agrarian Development Officers.

The Minister said ADOs should take steps to control vegetable cultivation from next year. Due to the lack of a systematic plan, vegetable farmers have faced hardships. As a remedy, ADOs should collect data on all cultivated lands, irrigation schemes and farmers in each respective area.

The Ministry will provide financial assistance to expand Agrarian Services Centres and transform them into resource centres of the agriculture development activities. These centres will provide all agricultural requirements to the farmers.

He also directed to the ADOs to provide the fertilizer subsidy to farmers who are 100 per cent qualified to obtain it. At present some people obtain this subsidy by submitting various forged documents.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager