Hayleys Agriculture opens first Innotech Piyasa in Kurunegala

Hayleys Agriculture Holdings Ltd., the leading agri-inputs provider in Sri Lanka, who has been in the industry for over five decades working closely with the local farmer to introduce new sustainable global practices, embarked on yet another venture to provide climate-smart agriculture practices accessible to the farmer. 

Taking on the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture and the need for awareness on effective solutions and their ready availability, the company launched Innotech Piyasa (literally meaning a house of technology), in Kurunegala on 26 July. 

Innotech Piyasa is a centre of transfer of technology that would educate the farmers on protective agriculture range of products such as UV polythene, shade nets, insect-proof nets, mulch film, and drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation systems. With unpredictable weather due to climate change which affects agriculture in the most adverse manner, management of scarce resources such as water and protecting crops from the impact the environment is of paramount importance to the farmer today. The company believes that Innotech Piyasa opened in Kurunegala would serve the farmer in the most meaningful manner to protect their crops and increase their yields.   Climate change and its net negative impacts on Sri Lanka’s food production systems which would directly impose a threat on food security is very clear to all stakeholders of agriculture in the country. There is a large volume of literature that educates the public on statistically significant increase of ambient temperature, an increase of variability in rainfall and increase of weather extremes in response to climate change. We are now quite accustomed to weather extremes such as prolonged droughts and flash floods that have intensified during the recent years. 

Even though awareness on climate change and its impacts on agriculture have increased among the relevant stakeholders including farming communities, the implementation of field level adaptations are seen to be far below the rate of increasing trends of climate change. Farmers are now compelled to make every effort to mitigate the effects of climate change on agriculture. Educating farmers regarding protected agriculture is a positive step to make the farmer more professional in his or her approach towards agriculture. 

With these disastrous effects of climate change, farmers are also exposed to infestations of pests apart from the loss of harvest caused by severe droughts. Protected Agriculture is the answer as it will enable farmers to grow their crops under controlled conditions. Shade nets, UV Polythene and insect-proof nets will protect their crops from all types of insects that damage the same and provide protection from excessive rain and heat as well. 

The objective of the company is to display the complete range of protected agriculture under one roof. The agriculture experts of Hayleys will also be stationed at this point to share their knowledge on protected agriculture with customers. As a leader in the agriculture sector, Hayleys believes in educating the farmer on modern agriculture technology. As a knowledge-sharing hub, Innotech Piyasa is a centre where farmers could observe how these products could be used, applied to their specific crop and budget. 

Hayleys Agriculture plans to open more Innotech Piyasa Centres in six other regions of the country.