Sri Lanka’s organic agriculture policy receives support from India
The High Commission of India in Sri Lanka has reportedly organized an online bilateral interaction recently on the request of the government of Sri Lanka during which India’s success stories in organic agriculture were shared.
High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay has delivered the keynote address at the event. Other speakers had included Sri Lanka’s State Minister for Skill Development, Vocational Education, Research and Innovation Dr. Seetha Arambepola and Minister of State for Agriculture Shasheendra Rajapaksa.
The High Commissioner of India has reportedly stated that India would be happy to collaborate with Sri Lanka in its transition towards organic agriculture by providing capacity building training, sharing technical know-how, organizing exchange visits of experts and through research collaboration among institutions involved in organic farming.
He has also called for utilizing the vast Indian experience in the area of organic agriculture for achieving food security for the people of Sri Lanka and has suggested setting up an ‘Organic Centre of Excellence’ in Sri Lanka with Indian assistance.
The High Commissioner has further asked biofertilizer companies of both sides to explore prospects of forming Joint Ventures for manufacturing of biofertilizers in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, State Minister Arambepola has called for greater interaction and collaboration from both sides in various aspects of organic agriculture.
Highlighting the need of the government of Sri Lanka to switch over to 100% organic agriculture, State Minister Rajapaksa has reportedly expressed hope that India’s capabilities and expertise in the field would be beneficial to Sri Lanka.
Appreciating the lead role taken by the High Commission in organizing such an interaction, the Ministers have requested the High Commission to organize more such interactions in the future.
Head of Technical Cooperation Dr. Sushil Kumar has reportedly highlighted that agriculture is a vital component of India-Sri Lanka multi-dimensional bilateral partnership and agreed to facilitate more such interactions in specific areas such as bio-herbicides, bio-pesticides, compost enrichment technology and explore the possibility of strengthening institutional collaborations between the two countries in agriculture and allied fields.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s shift to organic agriculture has opened up many business/investment opportunities as the government of Sri Lanka is looking at expanding the production of organic fertilizer in the country to meet the demand. The production of organic fertilizer to meet the growing demand has resulted in the neef for technical knowledge as well as production facilities.
Article Code : | VBS/AT/08072021/Z_4 |