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Chillie, potato, onion to be grown on 25,000 ha

10 Mar 2022

BY Buddhika Samaraweera The Agriculture Ministry has planned to cultivate crops such as chillie, potato, and onion in an identified land of 25,000 hectares (ha), in the hope of reducing the import of the same from next year. Speaking at a media briefing held yesterday (9), Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said that last year, 100% of the country’s chillie demand and 65% each of the potato and onion demand were imported. However, he said that plans are afoot to expand the production of such crops locally from next year. “We have identified about 25,000 ha and are planning to cultivate chillie, potato, and onion on that land. By doing so, it will be possible to minimise the import of such crops. We also hope to identify high-yielding varieties and to encourage farmers to cultivate them,” he said. He added that farmers would be able to move away from traditional agriculture and even export their produce using modern technology. Towards that end, Aluthgamage said that the Cabinet of Ministers’ approval has recently been granted to formulate a national policy on agriculture. Meanwhile, commenting on the Government’s paddy-purchasing programme, he said that the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) hopes to maintain a stock of 200,000 metric tonnes (MT) of paddy purchased during this season, thereby controlling the price of rice and preventing the emergence of a rice mafia in the market. In January, Aluthgamage said that the Cabinet had approved the purchase of paddy from farmers at a guaranteed price of Rs. 75 per kilogramme. He stated that paddy would be purchased from farmers at the new price through the PMB from 25 January.


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