160,000 layer chicks among Youth Agri- Entrepreneurs in 160 Youth Agri- Entrepreneurship villages
The Ministry of Agriculture and Plantation Industries has started the program of establishing 160 youth agri-entrepreneurship villages with the aim of attracting the youth community to the agriculture sector.
Thus, an Agri Entrepreneurship Village Week was announced from yesterday (01) to 07 of this month. The first two villages were established under the participation of the Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries, Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera, in Tambana villages in Bibila Medagama and Pahatha Arawa in Siambalanduwa.
It has been decided to implement a project to encourage the youth community for the poultry industry in the 160 villages selected to represent all 25 districts under the Youth Agri Entrepreneurship Village Program.
Accordingly, 20 entrepreneurs will be selected from each of these 160 villages and 50 chickens will be given to them each for free.
According to this, 160,000 layer chicks that lay the highest number of eggs are to be distributed among those young entrepreneurs and for this purpose, about 850 million rupees will be spent, said the Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries, Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera.
The minister mentioned this while starting the activities in Pahatha Arawa and Medagama Tambana villages
The Youth Agri-Entrepreneurship Village Program was initiated to attract the youth community to agriculture. We implemented this program in 11 villages last year. And this year 160 villages have been selected for that. We have allocated 1600 million rupees to 160 villages at 10 million rupees per village.
At present, the youth community is only 20 percent in the agriculture sector of our country. The remaining 80 percent are the elderly group above 55 years. After the end of this group of adults, there will be a big impact on the agriculture of this country. Therefore, we have taken steps to make many changes so as to instill confidence in agriculture in the youth community.
We are starting a special poultry management project in these 160 villages to increase egg production in the country. Today, the poultry industry is a very profitable business. And there is a demand for eggs in the country. Therefore, 160,000 chickens will be distributed to families selected from each village with 50 chickens each.
Such is the arrangement of this Youth Agri-Entrepreneurship Village. The minister also mentioned that our aim is to provide knowledge and facilities about new agricultural technology to the young community as much as possible and to attract the young community to the agriculture of this country.
Member of Parliament Mr. Vijitha Berugoda and others participated in these events.
