Cashew cultivation promoted

70,000 plants to be grown islandwide:

S M Wijeratne-Kurunegala Corr

In a bid to promote the cashew cultivation the Economic Development Ministry under its Divi neguma project will aim to grow 700,000 cashew plants islandwide.

This is coordinated by the Sri Lanka Cashew Corporation. Under this programme, 2,000 acres of land will be cultivated with cashew covering 22 administrative districts. Last year, 4,000 acres of land were cultivated with cashew plants and 3,500 farmers were educated and trained on cashew cultivation.

Farmers were provided with cashew plants to grow another 10,000 acres of land and this is in addition to the two previous projects.

"Rs 10 million will be invested in this cultivation project and the harvest will be exported after being processed.

"About 15,000 people will obtain direct and indirect employment opportunities under this project," said S A Jayapala, a senior assistant director of agriculture in Kurunegala.