Crop cultivation programme to save foreign exchange

Uditha KUMARASINGHE

COLOMBO: The Agriculture Development Ministry has implemented a special crop cultivation programme to save valuable foreign exchange incurred on the import of these items .

According to Ministry sources nearly Rs.45 billion is spent annually to import dry chillies, red onions, B onions, kurakkan and various kinds of fruit varieties.

A special programme formulated by the Ministry will ensure this vast sum is saved within the country which in turn would benefit the economy.

At the initial stage, the Ministry had formulated a programme selecting specific crops for cultivation in each province during the 2005-2006 Maha season, a Ministry spokesman told the Daily News.

A progress review meeting of this programme was held at the Agriculture Department on April 24 and 25 chaired by Agriculture Development Minister Chamal Rajapaksa.

Provincial Agriculture Ministers and a large number of agriculture officers who act as the resource personnel of this programme also participated in the meeting, he said.

During the two day meeting, special attention was focused on taking immediate measures to address the local B-onion seed requirement.

Information also revealed that progress has already been recorded in kurakkan, red onion, chillie and fruit cultivation.

Minister Rajapaksa urged officials to provide the necessary financial allocations together with high tech machinery and agriculture instructors, the lack of which has become obstacles to develop crops in the respective provinces, the spokesman said.