Yala paddy crop 50 percent more

Military victories boost production:

UDITHA KUMARASINGHE and IRANGIKA RANGE

Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services Minister Maithripala Sirisena told Parliament yesterday, paddy production of the 2008 Yala season has shown a 50 per cent increase compared with the 2007 Yala paddy harvest, due to moves taken by the Government to cultivate a large extent of fallow paddy lands under the Government’s national food production drive Api Wawamu Rata Nagamu.

The Minister said the Armed Forces military victories have directly led to an increase in agricultural production. “Farmers in the East have been able to cultivate 50,000 hectares of new paddy lands in the East. At present, a large number of agricultural lands in the North and East have been re-cultivated due to moves taken by the Government to liberate those areas from the LTTE,” he said.

The Minister introducing several regulations under the Agrarian Development Act said the Government’s intention is to cultivate all imported food crops which can be cultivated locally within the next two years under the national food production drive implemented by the Government.

The Government through this move intends to save nearly Rs. 100 billion spent annually on imported food items which can be produced locally, he said.

The national food production drive Api Wawamu Rata Nagamu ceremonially launched by President Mahinda Rajapaksa two years ago has been able to achieve its set targets successfully, the Minister said. “In a situation where all countries were warned of a world food crisis, Sri Lanka successfully faced that situation due to a series of measures taken by the Government to promote the agricultural sector,” he said.

The Minister said, “Ten proposals were adopted when the World Food and Agriculture Organisation (WFAO) met in Rome last January to increase the food production of all countries. But Sri Lanka did not want to implement any of these proposals as we had implemented all those proposals by that time. In addition, a special Presidential Task Force was also appointed on food production.

The Government introduced a national agricultural policy two years ago which was one of the long felt needs of the country.” During the past two years, every citizen has made an immense contribution towards the Government’s national food production drive irrespective of political or any other petty differences.

This has clearly proven that any crisis situation can be overcome if all act united, he said.

“According to the new regulations introduced under the Agrarian Development Act, if any land owner has not cultivated any agricultural land, that particular land can be vested to any other person to cultivate.

The Ministry through this move will encourage farmers to cultivate all their abandoned land,” he said. The Agriculture Ministry has been able to re-cultivate over 50 per cent of fallow paddy lands in the Western Province, Minister Sirisena said. Under the Government’s national food production drive, the Ministry has recommended crops which should be cultivated in each respective area. This would help to create a proper management of the agricultural products, he said.