CIC invests Rs. 50m on tissue culture lab

Hiran H. Senewiratne in Pelvehera

CIC Agri-Business Centre will invest Rs. 50 million on their tissue culture laboratory to produce plants for the local and export market.

Assistant General Manager (Production) of CIC Agri-Business Priyanga Dematawa told the Daily News Business, that the tissue culture laboratory is one of the most modern labs in the country that produces high quality plants.

It has the capability of producing more than two million plant varieties to agriculture and plantation industry needs especially for the export market.

He said once the expansion project is complete within the next five years, the CIC Agri-Business lab will be able to cater to all planting material needs in the country. They also plan to focus on the export market.

They export plant varieties to Australia and to many Middle Eastern countries. They use quality plant tissues to produce planting materials through a scientific multiplication process to obtain any amount of plants especially for the mass production market in their laboratory at Palvehera in Dambulla.

The CIC Agri-Business Centre also has a soil testing laboratory.

Dematawa said their lab could store more than 200,000 plant varieties including all types of fruits, vegetables or horticulture plants. Plants are stored for the local market and also the export market.

They obtain high quality disease free mother plants to produce plants through the multiplication process.

The company has recruited workers from the area to help the villages in the area. The company also gives training for their employees on the latest agricultural methods, he said.

The CIC Agri-Business Centre claims to be the market leader of the private sector tissue culture producer in Sri Lanka and has received many local and international certifications including the ISO 9001 quality management system certification. CIC Agri-Business encompasses all agriculture related businesses that are carried out within the CIC Group.

This includes the companies CIC Fertilisers, CIC Seeds, CIC Agri-Biotech and the divisions pertaining to agri-technology, agro-consultancy, agri-equipment, home gardening and agro-tourism.