STC and CIC Agri Business sign agreement:

Agri equipment for farmers

Charumini DE SILVA

The State Trading Corporation (STC) and CIC Agri Business signed an agreement yesterday to sell agri machinery and equipment to farmers at relief rates.

“The public sector has not intervened in selling agri machinery and equipment to the farmer community so far. Since the Government was implementing rehabilitation and development programs in the Northern and the Eastern provinces under the Uthuthuru Wasanthaya and Neganhira Navodaya programs, there was a greater need to provide relief to farmers in those areas to accelerate agricultural development”, said Chairman, State Trading Corporation, Pradeep Gunawardane.

“The machinery used under this scheme are two-wheel and four-wheel tractors, threshers, mammoties, mist blowers and chemical sprayers.

We hope to equip the farmers with the latest agro technology and machinery so that their productivity will reach a much higher level than at present”, he said.

“The STC will also grant free agricultural insurance policies to cultivators in collaboration with the Bank of Ceylon and the Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board.

Therefore, any crop failures or weather problems that cause a loss to farmers could be compensated.

The farmers will also be given special agricultural loans on soft terms”, he said. Managing Director, CIC Agri Business, Keerthi Kotagama said, “Though we were an agricultural country during the past 30 years, due recognition of agriculture and incentive development had not been given. We could have achieved a growth rate of five to six percent in agriculture during the past three decades but we were unable to do so as this sector had been neglected. However, there is a resurgence in this sector and also in the CIC Agri Business”.

“We have produced 80 percent of the maze crop demand in the country and if we continue the present rate of growth in this sub-sector we will be able to export maze soon. There is a tendency among those engaged in commercial agriculture to take to more lucrative forms of business. Under the present agreement we will provide agri machinery and equipment at a reasonable price and guarantee the quality of their products”, he said.

Minister of Trade, Consumer Affairs and Cooperatives, Bandula Gunawardane said, “After the defeat of terrorism one-third of the country’s land mass as well as two-thirds of the coastline is now free. As a result, it would be possible to develop the national economy with a greater contribution from the Northern and Eastern provinces”.

“There is a reawakening in the agricultural sector with the national production drive, using unutilized resources including land that had not been developed. Therefore, the agricultural sector can play a key role in contributing to the national economy,” he said.

“The STC is engaged in innovative business remedies and was working in collaboration with the private sector with the promise of expanding its activities. The STC which was running at a loss earlier is today a profit-making venture,” he said.

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At a glance

* Agricultural loans on soft terms

* Resurgence in the sector

* Maize export a possibility

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