Ministry moves to develop local crops

Uditha Kumarasinghe

COLOMBO: The Agricultural Development Ministry has made arrangements to develop all varieties of local crops under the Government’s ‘Accelerated Food Production Drive’ to be launched to promote indigenous crop varieties.

Under this programme, the Government plans to take steps to increase the yield of rice, subsidiary crops, fruit and vegetables, a Ministry spokesman told the Daily News.

Agricultural Development and Agrarian Services Development Minister Maitripala Sirisena has issued guidelines to agricultural sector authorities to take possible measures to develop indigenous crop varieties.

The Field Crops Research and Development Institute which is under the Agriculture Department’s purview has taken measures to promote the local fruit cultivation.

The Agriculture Department has set up 13 fruit villages countrywide. Arrangements have been made to separately cultivate banana, durian, avocado, jack (Peni Waraka) and mandarin in these fruit villages, he said.

Fruits recommended by the Agriculture Department have been cultivated in these farms. A high yield is expected to be obtained from these fruit trees. Arrangements have also been made to further upgrade fruit trees belonging to farmers selected from these villages, the spokesman said.

According to Sirisena, Pakistan, the Philippines, Malaysia, India and China are leading fruit exporters in the Asian region. Fruit production plays a major role in strengthening the economy in these countries.

The Minister said fruits naturally grown in Sri Lanka are of high quality in taste. Measures should be taken to further improve these fruits which will strengthen the economy.