Moves to stop big onion seed imports

Ishara MUDUGAMUWA

Arrangements will be made to stop importing big onion seeds with immediate effect, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said. “A sufficient quantity of big onions seeds are produced here. It is important to promote big onion seeds produced by local farmers,” he said.

The minister said over 30,000 big onion seeds have been produced in Dambulla. This is sufficient to meet the local big onion seed requirement, he said.

“Sri Lanka’s annual big onion requirement is around 250,000 tons. The ministry plans to produce more than 50 percent of the requirement this year by producing 125,000 tons,” the minister said. He said big onion seed production is confined to Dambulla and Anuradhapura. “It is important to expand it to Moneragala, Ratnapura, Batticaloa, Polonnaruwa, Vavuniya, Ampara and Mullaitivu districts,” he said.