'Yawning gap between agri experts and farmers'

The yawning gap existing between agricultural experts and farmers continued to exist and as a result expertise did not filter down to farmers at the level they needed it most.

President Maithripala Sirisena was speaking at the Cargills Saru Bima Farmer awards ceremony at the BMICH last week, where he highlighted shortcomings faced by farmers.

The ceremony felicitated 18 vegetable and dairy farmers across Sri Lanka for their contribution to the national economy.

Over 200 students receiving scholarships for higher education, while 500 farmers received medical insurance policies at the ceremony.

“The economy should be built on the strength of the farmers and the working class of the country. A greater component of the population are farmers. We must work to improve the economy. The farmer and workers have been in the forefront of building the economy," the President said."The Government while strengthening economic policies, has encouraged the private sector to help build the economy. The Cargills Saru Bima program has provided the opportunity that farmers need to work towards strengthening the economy," he said.

Earlier the country was divided into two camps, the State sector and the private sector and were of the view they should strengthen only themselves. But now they have learned to work with all stakeholders and are building a strong economy, President Sirisena said.

"The Agricultural Department which at one-time advised farmers to use chemical fertiliser, is today advising them against it. However, we are only using a small percentage of organic fertiliser at present. Therefore, programs of this nature can help address the problems caused by the use of chemical fertiliser to some degree as farmers are given expert advice about using fertiliser," he said.

"With this program Cargills has succeeded in tieing up market demand with new technology and the needs of the customer. This is what is most valuable in this program. As a government our aim is to strengthen the farmer and thereby the local economy," the President said.

- SJ