East brings abandoned lands under the plough

V. P. Sivapragasam Akkaraipattu group corr.

The Eastern Provincial Council has brought 131,000 acres of abandoned paddy land under the plough helping the province to realise previous paddy production targets, said Provincial Agriculture, Animal Production, Rural Industries and Fisheries Minister Dr. Thambiappa Navaratnarajah.

He was speaking at a meeting held at Thambiluvil Agrarian Service centre to mark the distribution of water pumps among a group of 50 farmers under a program sponsored by the 'Italian Co-operation', an organisation in Italy.

Dr. Navaratnarajah said the peasants in the East had suffered tremendous losses from both the natural disasters and the man made disasters that continued for three decades.

The natural calamities such as the tsunami, cyclone, floods and the drought have all contributed to the misery of the farmer. They not only lost their wealth, but also precious lives. The war situation contributed to the fall in the production of food, he said. The East that produced 35 per cent of the country's paddy, was pushed down to produce a meagre 20 per cent. The new Provincial Council for the East has succeeded in bringing 131,000 acres of abandoned land for the production of paddy. "We have succeeded in restoring the previous targets of rice production in the East. Our efforts had been a success thanks to the peasants who worked hard," he said.

Dr. Navaratnarajah said, there are many impediments, on the way towards greater production of agricultural produce.

Foremost, the lack of infrastructure. We need facilities for marketing the produce of the farmer," he said.

He said, "We are thankful to Italian Ambassador Pin Mariani, the people of Italy and their Italian Co-operation with their devoted hardworking men who have come to the East to provide the basic needs of the peasants.

He handed over water pumps to peasant farmers at the Thambiluvil Agrarian Services Centre held under the Chairmanship of M. Sithamparanathan.

A large number of farmers and officers of the various Departments, the Divisional Secretary and Presidential Advisor, Ampara District Inniya Bharathy were present,

The Embassy of Italy had sunk 50 wells for provision of water to crops on the highland and further helped the farmers with water pumps.

The work was executed by the Italian organisation called the "Italian Co-operation" under the directions of Program Director Pino Antuzi. Fifty peasant families have been helped with agro wells and water pumps.