Rice exports put agriculture to the fore

Wednesday, 5 October 2011 02:31 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Uditha Jayasinghe

Sri Lanka is focusing on agriculture to increase exports, promote food security and reduce the cost of living within the country, Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera said on Monday.

Treasury Secretary

Dr. P.B. Jayasundera

Even though Sri Lanka has been self-sufficient in rice, it has not considered large scale exports and Dr. P.B. Jayasundera noted that this was about to change.

During his address to a forum organised by the National Chamber of Exporters (NCE), Dr. Jayasundera remarked that the Government was looking for export markets and was even in the process of supplying the World Food Programme (WFP).

This is to reduce cost of living to its lowest possible standards, he pledged. “For over 30 years the WFP has fed our internally displaced but now there is no longer any need for that.

However, even though Sri Lanka has no internally displaced, there are many around the world.

We are in the process of identifying two districts that can provide exports to the WFP,” he said.

Earlier President Mahinda Rajapaksa had outlined plans to start of rice exports to African countries in the near future.

In addition the Government is also planning to strengthen the ‘Divi Neguma’ programme so that backyard businesses could link with small and medium industries to promote import substitution in Sri Lanka. Larger companies will then be able to outsource some of their tasks to these coalitions.