Ministry plans to develop 13 sectors in agriculture

Priyanka Kurugala

The Agriculture Ministry has drawn up a plan to develop 13 sectors of the agricultural field under Api Wawamu Rata Nagamu Under this project the Ministry had allocated around Rs 440 million to develop the agriculture sector for the year 2012, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana said.

According to the national agricultural policy the government has drawn up a plan to cultivate every inch of the country's land to make this project a success, the government has launched some strategies utilizing short-term and medium term plans, he said.

Among them, increasing the production of other field crops, promotion of third season cultivation, improvement of agriculture production, productivity by involving ministries, other institutes cluster farm development for high value crops, promotion of post harvest technology and agri–enterprise development programmes, initiation of social marketing(food, diet and nutrition) programme, and assisting other Agriculture extension programmes, Promotion of climate change adoptive measures, Promotion of rice flour, rice based products and production and processing of high quality rice for export market, Promotion of cultivation of organic food for niche markets are these projects, he said.