Over 400,000 acres to be cultivated

Priyanka Kurugala

The Agriculture Ministry has drawn up a plan to cultivate around 400,000 acres of paddy and other subsidiary crops throughout the country, Agriculture Ministry Additional Secretary Shantha Emitiyagoda said.

The Additional Secretary told the Daily News that the Ministry would allocate around Rs 750 million for this purpose.

Under this program the Ministry has planned to cultivate subsidiary food crops in 5,500 acres in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Food and Agriculture Organization Dr Patric Thomas Tevans has agreed with the Agriculture Ministry to provide US$ 1.6 million for seed paddy and other subsidiary crops to farmers who were badly affected by the recent floods in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, Agriculture Ministry Additional Secretary said.

The Ministry has also planned to provide 750,000 bushels of seed paddy out of which 201,000 bushels will be supplied by the FAO under the above fund. This program will be launched in collaboration with the Agriculture Department and Provincial Agriculture Departments, he said. The program has been designed under the guidance of the Agriculture Ministry. The Ministry has planned to import subsidiary seeds varieties from India to launch this program. The Ministry has planned to cultivate other subsidiary like cawpea, black gram, green gram and peanut as well. Around seventy five thousand farmers will benefit under this program.