Govt. to rehabilitate degraded agricultural lands in central highlands under 5-year $ 11 m project

The Government will implement a five-year project to reverse and arrest land degradation in agricultural lands in Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Badulla Districts in the central highlands at a cost of over $ 11 million.

The land degradation caused by various reasons including soil erosion has become a severe environmental issue in Sri Lanka. About 50% of lands in central highlands have degraded and most of them are in Kandy, Badulla and Nuwara Eliya Districts.

Soil erosion varies widely due to type of land use in central highlands and soil losses are very high on abandoned and poorly managed tea lands. Depletion of soil fertility has led to a loss of productivity of agricultural lands in the central highlands.

The Government has paid its attention on preventing this issue through a sustainable land management, considering its impact on ecosystem and farmers in the area.

The five year project will be implemented with funds provided by the Sri Lankan Government and the Global Environmental Facility through Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The Government funds will be amounted to $ 9,740,000 while the FAO will provide $ 1,334,657.

A proposal put forward by President Maithripala Sirisena, in his capacity as the Minister of Mahaweli Development and Environment, to implement the project during 2016-2020 has received approval from the Cabinet of Ministers.