Agriculture, Wild Life and Forest Conservation Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has instructed officials to start focusing on new agricultural projects that will be implemented under all foreign finance facilities under the Ministry to attract the youth of our country.
At present, there are six projects under the Agriculture Ministry which are being implemented in collaboration with international organizations including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and World Food Programme.
The Minister recently discussed the work of these projects with senior officials.
Only elderly farmers are still engaged in local agriculture. Many young people are sceptical about indigenous agriculture as a sector in which they cannot develop. Therefore, projects such as foreign exchange earning model agricultural villages, cultivation zones and export crop promotion projects should be created with new agro-technological facilities to win the confidence of the younger generation, the Minister said.
The Minister also called on the youth to adopt new agro-technologies and facilitate the use of high value crops such as green cucumbers, chilies and fruits that can be exported competitively to foreign markets.
He also said that TJC mango cultivation, maize, soya, pineapple, passion fruit and katu anoda could be grown as cultivation zones to provide more space to the youth community in those areas.“It is not good for the younger generation to move away from local agriculture. Our country’s economy can be stabilized one day only if agriculture is stabilized,” Minister Amaraweera said.
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