Programs to upgrade cinnamon industry

The Government's achievement was not only to secure a military victory against terrorism, but to do so while moving the economy forward in a hostile global environment, handling Sri Lanka's foreign relations with skill to support the war effort, maintaining the Government's strength in Parliament, forging ahead with massive development initiatives and expanding the scope of welfare activities, Professor G.L. Peiris, Minister of Export Development and International Trade, said at meetings in Yatiyana in the Matara district and in Kosgoda in the Galle District, recently.

The Minister was inaugurating a series of programs connected with upgrading the cinnamon industry in the Southern Province.

The cinnamon industry, he continued, provides a means of livelihood for 100,000 persons in the Southern Province. It is a traditional industry with its roots deep in our culture and history, but it needs to be upgraded with the infusion of modern technology to secure the maximum benefits in world markets in an increasingly competitive international environment.

With a view to improving methods of peeling and other aspects of the manufacturing process, which has up to now been done entirely by manual means, the Government is establishing 20 manufacturing centres with appropriate equipment. The Government, he continued, was spending Rs. 600,000 on each centre, the total expenditure being Rs. 12 million.