Commercial agriculture enhances farmers’ lives

By Gamini WARUSHAMANA

The Department of Agriculture celebrates its golden jubilee this year. To mark the occasion the Department organised the ‘National Agriculture Exhibition and Farmers Week’ from July 20 to 25 at the Gannoruwa Agro technology park. The Department set up on May 20, 1912 has done a great service for the development of agriculture in the country.

Director General of the Department, K.G. Siriyapala said that they were proud of the role played in transforming subsistence agriculture to modern commercial agriculture, enhancing the lives of millions of the rural farmer community.

Dragon fruit plants at the Gannoruwa agro technology park  Pic: Gamini Ranasinghe, Kandy branch

The most recent achievement of being self-sufficient in rice is backed by research and development and promotional campaigns carried out by the Department to educate farmers on modern agriculture practices.

Breeding of new high-yield rice varieties, introduction of organic fertiliser and balanced fertiliser mix through model fields, helped to increase the paddy yields and productivity.

Meanwhile, Government policies such as the fertiliser subsidy, enabled farmers to practically use what the Department promoted.

Sri Lanka was a maize importer in 2005 and by 2012 it has turned out to be a maize exporter. Big onion production is another success story and in 1982 we started with a 4-hectare cultivation and today there are 5,000 hectares of big-onion cultivation. Big-onion seed production is a difficult task and this has also been achieved.

Today, Sri Lanka produces 25,000 kg of big onion seeds, close to the country’s total requirement, he said. Achievements in fruits and vegetable cultivation too is significant and there are thousands of farmers who engage in commercial agriculture.

The Department’s contribution in plantation agriculture was also significant. Minor export crops contribution to the export sector has significantly increased with research and development and promotional campaigns carried out by the Department, Siriyapala said.

The challenge the Department faces today is to maintain this growth momentum. The main reason is the reluctance of the younger generation to engage in agriculture.

This is a major challenge in the paddy farming sector. Introduction of modern technology and scientific farming practices is a remedy to this.