Support for high-value export crop cultivation: Daya

Primary Industries Minister Daya Gamage stressed that his Ministry always supports the cultivation of export crops that have a high value in the world market, addressing the Nuwara Eliya Kachcheri auditorium last week.

He was attending an event to distribute coffee plants among ‘Dhana Saviya’ beneficiaries in plantation areas.

Gamage said plans had been made together with Minister Navin Dissanayake and the Plantation Industries Ministry to go on a long journey to develop primary and plantation industrial sectors.

He noted that Nuwara Eliya was best suited for the Arabica coffee variety which could be planted at a height of more than 2,000 feet above sea level. Pointing out that around three million coffee plants would be needed to expand coffee cultivation countrywide, he urged plant nursery owners to contribute towards supplying that requirement.

He added that technical expertise would be obtained from Israel to uplift the local floricultural field.