During next Maha season:

Over 30,000 acres of paddy to be cultivated in North

Lakshmi DE SILVA

Agriculture, the main economic activity of the people of the North and East will receive an impetus with the Government's rehabilitation programs of Uthuru Vasanthaya and Negenahira Navodaya in the forthcoming Maha crop season with the North East monsoon expected a few weeks from now.

The farmers would cultivate more than 30,000 acres of paddy land in the North this season, a senior official of the Vavuniya District Secretary's office told the Daily News yesterday.

In addition to the normal cultivation done by the farmers, the IDPs who were resettled in their villages would be given free seed paddy, fertilizer and assistance for clearing weeds in the neglected paddy lands or other arable lands in their localities, he said.

District Secretary Mrs.P.S.M.Charles said the de-mining process was accelerated with new machines and trained personnel brought into the exercise while a large number of irrigation reservoirs in Vavuniya were being rehabilitated to supply irrigation to paddy farmers.

The de-mining process in the Yodha Wewa (Giant Tank) area in the Mannar District was also progressing well and a very large extent of paddy lands over 30,000 acres, would be brought under paddy cultivation in the rice bowl of the North, Mannar district sources said.