SL President inaugurates National Food Production Battle
President Maithripala Sirisenainaugurated the National Food Production Battle focused on promoting Sri Lanka’s national food production programme which has been affected by recent climatic upheavals. The programme is expected to fortify the country’s agricultural industry with sustainable and reliable methods, with the week of October, 6-12 designated as the “National Food Production Week.”
October 06, which is the first day of the Food Production Week campaign, has been set aside as “Farmers’ Day”with initiatives like the provision of seed paddy, rehabilitation of 2,000 acres of coconut lands and the launch of the Mahaweli Agri Project Plan for 2017/18 being carried out.
Special programmes for the development of home gardening, presentation of 2,500 title deeds to the Mahaweli farming community, tree planting programmes, seminars and training programmes regarding new agri-technology and the distribution of equipment to promote the production of organic fertiliser will also be implemented across the country.¹
October 7th was designated “Students’ Day” and will be kick started with an inauguration ceremony held at the Siyane National School, Gampaha under the patronage of the Minister of Education, with the Ministry intending to promote several programmes as per the National Food Production criteria such as toxin-free food production and prevention of food wastage which will be implemented across all 10,353 schools in Sri Lanka.
October 8th was designated as “Livestock Day” will have an inauguration ceremony at the Genetic Resources Centre, Peradeniya, with projects focused ondeveloping Sri Lanka’s dairy industry being initiated.
October 9th was set aside as “Entrepreneurs’ Day”will be launched at the Talawila Church in the North Western Province and the Andaulpatha Village in Mahiyangana in the Uva Province. Programmes targeting primary industrialists and entrepreneurs will be initiated to achieve this goal.
October 10th is designated as “Fisheries Day” will start off by the Fisheries Ministry releasing one million fish for breeding purposes and coincide with the opening of the fish breeding centre, Kallarawa, which was a LKR 200 million project.Programmes aimed at increasing fish consumption in Hill Country and Estate sector residents, development of livelihood and creation of employment opportunities will also be initiated.
October 11th is designated as “Public Servants Day” will be inaugurated at the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council auditorium and Ratnapura District Secretariat.
October 12th is designated as “Diyawara Day” will be inaugurated near the Muruthawela Tank and Urusitaveva, Embilipitiya.
The Ministry of Mahaweli Development intends to ensure that those in the Mahaweli community take part in these many programmes since the Mahaweli zone contains approximately 150,000 plots of irrigation land which the Ministry hopes to productively utilise to further promote these numerous programmes.
OSL TAKE:
With the GoSL headed by the country’s President promoting food security, priority will be given to spearheading agri-development initiatives. Further with ensuring food security now a global priority, this particular sector will gain more prominence and is expected to become one of the strongest industries in the world.
resource: http://www.ft.lk/front-page/President-to-kick-off-National-Food-Production-Battle-today/44-641021
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/10102017/Z_2 |