Over 82,000 hectares cultivated during Maha

Ishara Mudugamuwa

A total of 82,271 hectares of land have been successfully cultivated in the Mahaweli systems during the Maha season in 2009 and 2010.

Mahaweli Authority Director Chula Wellappili said it is expected to gain a paddy harvest of 0.5 million metric tons during the period.

Under the Mahaweli Water Management project, paddy and additional crops were cultivated in 165,000 hectares of land. Due to the drought, the productivity of other crops such as chillies, corn, onions and bananas were below expectation.

"We expected that farmers preferred to cultivate paddy due to high production costs and rising fertilizer prizes involved in turning to other crops," he said. Wellappili added that a sizable harvest is expected in the Maha season.