Govt's help to agro-business entrepreneurs

Uditha Kumarasinghe

COLOMBO: Agriculture, Irrigation and Mahaweli Development Minister Maithripala Sirisena said the Government will provide every possible assistance to small and medium scale entrepreneurs in the agro-business sector to further develop their industries.

The Minister made these observations at a seminar based on small and medium scale agro-business jointly organised by the Agriculture Ministry and the National Council for Economic Development (NCED) held at the BMICH, Colombo on Monday. Over 400 entrepreneurs engaged in the agro based industries participated in the seminar aimed at developing their entrepreneurial skills.

Under the UPFA Government, the NCED has given large concessions and facilities to the country's farmers.

Therefore this seminar was organised to educate farmers countrywide through the entrepreneurs engaged in the agro based industries, the Minister said.

He said at present there is no proper organisational structure to implement various proposals made by the Government for agro based industries. If entrepreneurs go to various financial institutions to obtain loans, they have to face severe difficulties to obtain such loans.

The Government through the NCED will educate the entrepreneurs engaged in the agro based industries on various projects and facilities given to them. The objective of organising a seminar is to channel the benefits given by the Government to both farmers and entrepreneurs in the agro based industries sector, the Minister said.