'Surplus food crops to be exported'

Ishara MUDUGAMUWA

The Agriculture Ministry is ready to export certain surplus food crops by 2015, in keeping with the Mahinda Chintana Future Vision programme said Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene.

The minister was speaking at a function yesterday to distribute plants at the Agriculture Ministry.

He said the ministry's aim is to produce more food for local consumption by promoting our own agriculture methods.

'We are always prepared to help the farmers solve their problems.

We can only help farmers who heed the advice given by agricultural experts,' the minister said.

'A case in point was a complaint made by farmers in Dambulla who complained about their bean cultivation an investigation conducted by the Agriculture Department revealed that farmers in Dambulla had cultivated the same crop for four consecutive cultivation seasons, against the advice of agricultural experts,' he said.

The minister said that experts always advise farmers not to cultivate the same crop for more than two seasons, to protect their crops from pests.

This attitude should change.

He also said that the Ministry has a stock of 22,000 kg bean seeds.

But farmers are not keen on to buy seeds from the ministry.

They always try to use hybrids as they can reap a big harvest. Farmers cannot produce seeds from hybrid crops. If they use local seeds they can produce seeds."

Agriculture Ministry officials and Heads of media organizations and journalists participated at the occasion.