[ad_1]
ECONOMYNEXT – The Asian Development Bank will provide 8 million dollars to develop smart agriculture practices using modern technology in the Mahaweli region agriculture and animal husbandry sectors.
“Younger people in the Mahaweli zones have shown a high tendency to engage in agricultural activities with smart technology. By developing the necessary facilities for this, the income of Mahaweli farmers can be increased by 200 percent,” Minister of Irrigation, Wildlife and Forest Conservation Pavithra Wanniarachchi was quoted as saying in a statement by the Department of Government Information.
Wanniarachchi said that she had asked the ADB for financial support and expert knowledge to do this, at a meeting with senior officials of the Mahaweli Authority on Wednesday (14).
The ADB funds will be disbursed through the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka under its Water Security Investment Program, which has introduced a work plan on how the money will be spent, according to the statement.
The Authority would allocate 4 million dollars for improving milk production levels and 2.5 million dollars for cultivation of food crops using smart technology such as polytunnel and drip irrigation systems. 1.5 million dollars will be used for poultry farming and freshwater fisheries.
“There are 12,940 dairy farmers in Mahaweli regions, and the amount of liquid milk produced last year was 54.8 million litres. This is expected to increase to 70 million litres.” The major setbacks to milk production were the inadequate feed for livestock, since pasture lands were increasingly limited, and the shortage of healthy calves, due to scarce facilities for breeding, the statement quoted officials as saying.
Egg production is also targeted to increase with the investment from the 62 million eggs recorded last year, to 100 million eggs projected to be produced this year.
The minister pointed out that developing agriculture and farming activities using modern technology would address Sri Lanka’s food insecurity concerns and possibly lead to exports of surplus. (Colombo/Feb15/2004)
[ad_2]
Source link
