Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Thursday, 24 May 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Primary Industries Ministry is a newly-established ministry under this Government in 2015. The Ministry has already started numerous projects under the Agriculture sector,including a value-added and export-oriented program to achieve the country’s national objectives.
A workshop was conducted by an expert panel from New Zealand as per the request of Minister of Social Welfare and Primary Industries Daya Gamage to enhance technical assistance to Sri Lanka’sdairy sector and horticulture sector.
The country will be benefitted by various programs that will be implemented in next couple of months which include new technological approaches to improve postharvest practices, data technology, a monitoring and evaluation system for dairy sector, setting up PPPs, investment preparation training, etc. The New Zealand Government will facilitate the above programs which will be implemented by the Ministry of Welfare and Primary Industries.
The Minister pointed out the main issues faced by the dairy sector in the country are low productivity and less quality of feeding materials, key areasthat need to be improved to enhance the dairy sector in Sri Lanka.
Moreover, an information management system with high technology is also a key area the country should consider when upgrading the sector in a systematic manner. One of the critical issues of the dairy value chain is the lack of availability of technical officers for artificial insemination in some area of the country. It is difficult to find technical officerson weekends and public holidays due to Government officers not being willing to workon holidays. A sustainable solution is necessary to improve the upstream area in the dairy value chain.
The Minister further elaborated that currentlyNew Zealand has 1.64 million hectares in the dairy sector and 4.5 million dairy cows are available for milking. Annual production volume exceeds 17 billion litres and New Zealand exports 96% of milk to 140 countries in the world.
As New Zealand has more than 100 years of experience, it is an excellent opportunity for the country to work with the NZ Government, which will give Sri Lanka the potential to be self-sufficient in the near future.
The Ministry of Welfare and Primary Industries has initiated a few projects for the development of dairy sector in the country, including the introduction of a high nutrition feeding program to enhance productivity in the dairy industry, setting up a new tissue culture laboratory to increase the upstream production of the horticulture sector, and value addition for fruits, vegetable and herbs sectors.
These projects are being implemented through the Project Management Unit of the Agriculture Sector Modernisation Project of Ministry of Primary Industries.
The Minister said that the spice sector would be the first export crop in 2025 with $ 1.5 billion in export revenue expected from this sector. SMEdevelopment programs, setting up a processing centre in various area for quality enhancement, oil extraction projects and other value addition projects have been initiated by the Ministry to achieve the above objectives.
The Minister thanked the delegates from New Zealand, Shiromani Jayasekera, Dr. Neil Kennington, Collier Isaacsand Steve Lee for their cooperation and technical assistance to develop this industry.
