‘Divineguma' national programme:

Over Rs. 550m spent in first five months of 2012

The ‘Divineguma' national programme which aims to establish one million domestic economic units for the main purpose of building a self reliant households, continued in the first five months of 2012 at a cost of Rs.556 million, according to the mid year fiscal position report released by the Finance and Planning Ministry.

The first phase of the programme launched in March 2011 targeted 1.5 million households. In the second phase 2.1 million households were targeted successfully. Under the third 2.5 million households were targeted and the fourth phase is slated to start at the end of this month.

The prime objective of the Divineguma programme was to strengthen people's economic status and minimize their dependence on the market for food requirements. The programme further aims to improve nutritional levels, reduce cost of living in households, increase vegetable and food production, increase per capita vegetable consumption, create new income generation sources for families by selling excess production, and encourage entrepreneurship at the village level.

The programme is implemented in three phases as Agriculture, Small scale industry and Livestock development.

Monitoring and evaluation of the programme is conducted by facilitators of the Ministry of Economic Development, who go into the grassroots level operations. An online progress review is maintained by these facilitators who are able to update information on to the system remotely. The programme covers all Grama Niladari Divisions (14,000) and is viewed as a peoples' movement expected to assist household units by enhancing their livelihoods and make a greater contribution to the economy.