Cabinet approves Rs. 160 m for providing seeds

Stanley SENEVIRATNE- Kurunegala North group corr

A program was initiated under the Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Development to establish 3,600 community Based Seed Production Villages by 2013, to promote the production of seed varieties locally for cultivation.

Accordingly, 600 such villages will be established in 2011, 1200 villages in 2012 and 1800 villages in 2013 under this program.

According to information by the ministry the cabinet had granted approval to produce 1,500,000 bushels of seed paddy, 205,000 kgs of supplementary food crop seeds and 55,000 kgs of vegetable seeds in addition to the existing production amounting to Rs. 160 million.

Under this program big onion seed production will be increased to meet the entire seed requirement locally by 2013.