Marketing village with 30 sales outlets:

Boom for handicrafts

Lakshmi DE SILVA

A new handicraft marketing village with 30 sales outlets is to be opened for the benefit of skilled craftsmen and women at the Battaramulla Janakala Kendraya premises under the auspices of the Traditional Industries and Small Enterprises Ministry.

This marketing village will provide the opportunity to demonstrate the talents of traditional handicrafts to the entire world, since the handicraft village was promoted in collaboration with the Tourism Ministry, National Craft Council Chairman Buddhi Keerthisena told the Daily News yesterday.

The village would be an opportunity to craftsmen and women to sell their products without going through middlemen or traders who keep a large margin as a profit. Purchasers, whether local or foreign, would be able to buy quality products from the original craftsmen for a reasonable prices, he said.

It would be profitable for the buyer and the producer and especially the environment in the locality provides a soothing atmosphere with greenery around and it is the ideal setting to buy Sri Lankan products, Keerthisena said.

The National Craft Council had assisted the traditional craftsmen to supply these sales outlets, designed and built as village huts.

These outlets are given at a nominal rent of Rs 100 a day.

The outlets would be provided to them on a rotational basis for all the traditional craftsmen in the island to have an opportunity to sell their handicraft products here, he noted.

This new handicraft village would afford an opening to the best and dedicated craftsmen to enter the world market. Already the people working in the craft village in the city of Battaramulla had got orders to sell their products abroad.

Since the rotational system is to be introduced other skilled craftsmen would also be able to get opportunities to sell their products abroad, Keerthisena said.