IDPs bring 6,200 acres under the plough

by Mohammed NALIR

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who have been resettled in their original places in Kilinochchi district have successfully cultivated paddy on 6,220 acres of this Yala season, Assistant Commissioner Agriculture Department, Kilinochchi I. Dhayaroopan said.

The Northern province where development was neglected for three decades is returning to economic prosperity. The Government has laid a strong base for the resettled farmers to recommence their agricultural activities. Irrigation and Water Resources Management Deputy Minister S. M. Chandrasena said that once the Moragahakanda Project is completed a large number of farmers in the North will benefit.

The Deputy Minister said that under the second phase of the Moragahakanda project the `NCP channel' will be constructed up to Iranamadu. Reservoirs and tanks in the Northern and Eastern provinces are now being renovated . The Deputy Minister said that the Mahaveli `L' zone is in the North. The L zone stretches upto Nayaru in Mullaitivu.

The resettled IDPs in the Kilinochchi district have cultivated paddy on 6,220 acres this Yala Season, the Assistant Commissioner, Agriculture Department Kilinochchi, I. Dhayaroopan said.

The farmers in Poonahari, Akkirayan, Kandhapuram and Mulangawil areas were also engaged in paddy cultivation this Yala Season.

The department intends to extend paddy cultivation to 48,000 acres in the coming Maha season, the Deputy Commissioner said.