Sri Lankan youth entrepreneurs to receive funds to set up greenhouses and link up with an export firm
A programme funded by the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) is to provide funding this month for hundred young entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka to set up greenhouses and link up with an export firm.
A statement issued to the media by the government of Sri Lanka has stated that 100 youth in the Badulla District will receive Rs. 500,000 at a subsidised 6.5 percent interest rate from the Regional Development Bank and DFCC Bank under the Smallholder Agribusiness Partnerships Programme (SAPP).
Accordingly, the selected farmers in Badulla will grow San Marzano tomatoes and salad cucumber in greenhouses in two seasons annually and the produce will be bought by the promoter firm Green Veg Exports Pvt Ltd.
The firm is to also provide technical know-how to the youth and SAPP will monitor and supervise the banks, the promoter firm and producers, the local media has reported.
SAPP Programme Director Yasantha Mapatuna, Badulla District Secretary Damayanthi Paranagama and other officials were to inaugurate the venture on Monday (19).
The local media has further noted that around 57,500 farmers are expected to become competitive and transform from subsistence farming to commercially oriented agribusiness under SAPP, which is focusing on ‘Public-Private-Producer-Partnerships.’
The programme is expected to improve income and nutrition of rural farmers and facilitate commercial partnerships, access to finance, knowledge transfer and mechanization of rural farmers.
Also, SAPP has reportedly added a target that 2,500 of the programme beneficiaries be youth with the aim of attracting them into commercial agriculture.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector is rife with business/investment opportunities due to the development and upgrading of the country’s agriculture industry to be on par with global standards. Foreign businesses/investors could explore business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/21082019/Z_2 |