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Profit making farms will not be privatised - Minister

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Agriculture and Livestock Minister S. B. Dissanayake gave an assurance that the Ministry will not privatise any profit making farms of the National Livestock Development Board (NLDB) which comes under the Ministry purview.

He said the NLDB has 30 farms throughout the country. Except two of them, the rest were running well. Initiatives will be taken to turn these two farms into profit making ventures.

The NLDB farms are playing a leading role in catering to the needs of country's livestock requirements. Therefore steps should be taken to upgrade these farms by considering them as national resources.

" The intention of this endeavour is to take every possible steps to develop country's livestock sector," the Minister said.

Dissanayake said due to inefficiency and mismanagement, these farms had deteriorated during the past few years. However, they have now been turned into a profit making level. Therefore, the Ministry has no intention whatsoever to privatise these farms.

The Minister said:" If these farms to be developed, necessary facilities should be granted to the employees, specially renovating their dilapidated houses and providing water and electricity facilities to them. The Ministry will provide financial assistance and relevant guidelines for this purpose." Meanwhile, the Ministry will discuss with the Government to distribute the profits among employees who work in profit making farms.

The Ministry will take initiatives to increase the salaries of the employees by providing them maximum facilities. In addition, the Ministry has already given necessary machines and other equipment to these farms, the Minister said.

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