Cargills launches grape cultivation project in North

Cargills (Ceylon) PLC, a member of CT Holdings PLC in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Agriculture of the Northern province distributed seedless and sweet grape saplings among farmers in Jaffna under the National Horticultural (NHA Project).

Director/Consultant Agri Biz Cargills, Dr J Katyal presents grape seedlings to a farmer in Jaffna.Maj Gen G.S. Chandrasiri Governor Northern Province, Dean faculty Of Agriculture, Jaffna, Secretary Agriculture NP, and Director Agriculture Northern province were present.

The seedlings were distributed at the Department of Agriculture Training Centre in Thirunelvelli. Director Consultant -Cargills Agribusiness, Dr. Jagdish Katyal said that the project will help stop importation of grapes and boost the cultivation in the North.

"Grapes are an iconic crop for Jaffna farmers but today are unable to compete with imported seedless grape varieties. Cargills has been successful in importing two seedless grape varieties to support the agricultural sector in the North," he said.

Haridas Fernando said, "The project will help change the landscape of grape imports and save the drain of foriegn exchange from the country with a good income for cultivators".

NHA, a joint project of Cargills Agrifoods Limited and USAID, focuses on improving the current state of fruit and vegetable farmers and palmyrah tappers of the Northern Province.

The total project investment is Rs. 222 m, shared by USAID (Rs. 92.5 m) and Cargills (Rs. 129.5 m). The project primarily aims at enhancing income and employability of the farmers and tappers.

The NHA project has developed contacts with 3000 farmers and trained 1116 farmers and tappers in vegetable cultivation.

Head of Vegetable Processing Units of Cargills Keerthi Gunasekara said that the company has set up a collection centre in Allawedi with commenced a direct buyback arrangement.

The farmers themselves say the system has given them an additional gain of 25-35 percent over and above what they would have got had they sold the produce in a local market." Cargills distributed booklets in Tamil on modern methods of farming of six important vegetable crops (bitter gourd, cabbage,

green chillies, tomato, carrot and brinjal) to boost productivity. Seeds of beetroot, cabbage and red radish were distributed among farmers.

Cargills in partnership with USAID will set up a fruit and vegetable processing plant in Kilinochchi which would be a major boost towards agriculture development in the Northern region.

LF