Gannoruwa Agriculture Technological Park:

Fountain of innovation for cultivation

Ishara MUDUGAMUWA

Agriculture is the soul of the country's economy. It is necessary to have a good knowledge about agriculture to successfully meet the challenges in agriculture sector. It's not easy to cultivate crops.

There are lots of difficulties that growers have to face when cultivating a crop. They have to overcome the obstacles placed by nature. There are lots of technologies that have to be used when one does cultivation.

Gannoruwa Agriculture Technological Park maintained by the Department of Agriculture is the main place for those who are willing to improve their knowledge about agricultural technologies. This park was established in the year 2004.

As this is not an exhibition everyone can learn the practical cultivation process of crops throughout the year. If people come to visit the park this season they can learn how to plough and how to prepare lands for cultivation. Another advantage of this park is if someone wants to know about banana plantation he can visit the banana section and learn a to z about banana plantation.

In an exhibition we can't practically learn about these things, said the Assistant Director of Agriculture Dr. Rohan Wijekoon, the one who made first effort to establish the agriculture technological park.

We hope to issue tickets for foreign visitors and use this park to promote agro- tourism. The other objectives are recreation, facilitation of research and generation of funds.

Main sections and presentations in the park are hightech Agriculture, Vegetable garden, Roots and tuber crops, Plant genetic resources, orchard, banana garden, organic farming, bee keeping, Gliricidia plantation for dendro power, seed show, Crop wild relatives, Leafy vegetable garden, Dry zone crops, Fruit nursery, Tissue culture division, Indigenous new food technology, Organic agriculture research (under constructions), Cirrus garden, Rice section, Science of threshing, Indigenous fish culture demonstration, tank and irrigation technology, Traditional Chena, Soil profile and soil science, Soil Conservation and Sacred trees, Spice garden, Plant quarantine unit, Insect zoo, Plant Pathology, Mushroom garden, Agricultural museum, Model home garden, sales centre (seeds, plants and publications), jack garden, Fruit garden 2 and Under utilized fruits.

This park strongly focused on the quick information dissemination mechanism for farmers, School children and the General public. Also it is the place to see and learn latest recommendations of crop cultivation and technologies generated by both public (government departments and universities) and private institutions. It gives not only education & training mechanism but also aesthetically beautiful edible landscaping with tropical crops.

When we visit the park our attraction goes to the edible landscaping. Edible landscaping means landscaping using edible crops. Levels shapes and the colours of the crop give the attraction to the garden, It provides daily food requirements, food security and reduce the cost of food. Satisfaction of consuming fresh fruits and vegetables is another advantage of the edible landscaping. We can obtain high price vegetables and fruits which are not common in local market. If we do edible landscaping in our home gardens we can easily attract visitors and have mental and physical satisfaction.

When you visit the agriculture technological park Gannoruwa you experience a feeling of satisfaction that is rare. You also learn quite a lot of things that were hidden but very useful to you. Even for people who want to start agriculture as a profitable business as done in other countries the park could provide the key to success. Even if you are having only a small garden you could learn how to make it a profitable space with the innovative methods you could learn here.