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New Farmer Act to incorporate traditional systems

by Florence Wickramage

The new Farmer Act (Govijana Panatha) to be introduced shortly is to include the Vel Vidane system that existed in the country in the past.

The new Act will also protect the "Ande" Cultivator.

The new Act will be among a series of incentive measures the Government will implement to ensure increased farmer participation in agriculture and paddy farming, Agriculture Minister S.B.Dissanayake said. Farmer Organisations will be legally empowered to actively participate as well as manage their water resources to irrigate paddy fields under the Pavithra Ganga/Clean Rivers Programme of the Irrigation Ministry.

Minister Dissanayake said Sri Lanka should utilise modern technology to upgrade our irrigation systems which has an ancient history. "A unique Irrigation Culture and a farmer culture existed in the past and these cultures have to be revitalised to gain maximum benefits for the farmer as well as to the country's economy", he said.

It was encouraging to observe many farmers taking back to paddy cultivation, which suffered a setback during the past few years. With new incentive measures farmers as well as the Ande-cultivators would be looked after and the World Bank will no longer be able to create a labour force out of our farmers, the Minister said.

The country has an abundance of water which could be fruitfully utilised for agriculture. The Government will have to concentrate on enforcing an effective water management system, so that water will be distributed equally to all parts of the island for agriculture uses as well. Moreover the government was bound by a social obligation to protect the farmer, Dissanayake said.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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