Cottage industries gain popularity in North

Cottage industries such as poultry farming, home gardening and bee-keeping are becoming increasingly popular among returnees in the North as alternatives to regular jobs, officials say.

"We have seen a lot of applications for loans for poultry and home gardens," Prem Kumar, Area Manager for Bank of Ceylon, one of Sri Lanka's two largest State-owned banks, told IRIN in northern Vavuniya District.

"When jobs become harder to find, people find it easier to start something on their own, especially when they see there are opportunities to succeed."

"They have now become an important part of income-generation efforts," Piencia Charles, the country's top government official for Vavuniya District, said.

High on the list is poultry farming.

"The reason is because there is a ready-made market in the villages. You really don't have to worry too much about transport," Kanagasabapathi Udayakumar, General Manager of the Vavuniya North Multi-purpose Cooperative Society (MPC), noted.

A kilogram of chicken sells for around Rs350 and the MPC itself made a profit of around Rs80,000 when it recently sold a flock of 200 birds.

"This time we have around 500, targeting Christmas," Udayakumar said.

In the village of Allankulam in Mullaitivu District, Selvakumar Arundha hopes to make a similar profit from her 100 birds. She started the farm with an initial investment of $270 pooled by six women in early 2010. Now each one earns about $2.50 per day from the farm.

"Most of us used the money we earned from taking part in cash-for-work programs," she said.