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Cardamom cultivation takes root in Ruwanwella

by Florence Wickramage

The Department of Agro Exports launched a cardamom cultivation project as a home garden cultivation. Cardamom plants were distributed at Ruwanwella Waharaka Maha Vidyalaya to extend cardamom cultivation in the Ruwanwella electorate, with the participation of Environment and Natural Resources Minister Rukman Senanayake.

Senanayake said as the Minister in Charge of Forestry, steps had been taken to prevent cardamom cultivation on lands higher than 3,000 feet as this particular cultivation degrades the soil.

The Minister appreciated the Department of Agro Exports efforts to popularise cardamom cultivation in home gardens to open up self-employment avenues and income generation opportunities. Senanayake cautioned about damages such cultivations would cause apart from the benefits.

The Minister said he would extend his co-operation to the project and will initiate the establishment of fertiliser industries to bring relief to farmers.

Around 5000 cardamom plants were distributed among 150 farmer families. Cardamom can be cultivated as an undergrowth in the rubber plantations and can be used for income generation during periods that does not yield income. The Agro Exports Department aims to train farmers to extend vanilla and red banana cultivations in the Ruwanwella electorate.

The Agro Exports Department hopes to increase cardamom harvests from the current 3000 tons to at least 10,000 tons per harvest to boost foreign exchange and farmers' economic standards.

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