Ministry of Agriculture and agro-based industry: A nation rich in prosperity

• This series is based on business leader Dhammika Perera’s recently revealed ‘Economic Growth Strategy and Action Plan to increase GDP Per Capita from $ 4,000 to $ 12,000’. The document outlines goals and action plans for 23 ministries and today’s column focuses on the Ministry of Agriculture

Goals

• Drive inclusive agricultural transformation:
• Increase agricultural productivity for farmers.
• Increase farmers’ household income.
• Increase equitable consumption of a safe, affordable and nutritious diet year around.
• Increase women’s empowerment in agriculture.  

      Through the optimal utilisation of natural resources in sustainable manner and the promotion of good agricultural practices the agricultural productivity in the economy can be increased 

Action Plan

1. Distribute soil health cards and soil-test based fertiliser recommendations.

Currently, 35,000 containers of fertiliser are imported. With the introduction of soil health cards and fertiliser recommendations, 20% (7,000 containers) of imports can be reduced.

2. Carry out preliminary agricultural land preparation for farmers by local authorities, using required machinery.

3. Improve irrigation infrastructure to support cultivation:

a. Rehabilitation and capacity improvement of 2,400 tanks.

b. Identify and develop the tank cascade system.

c. Develop and rehabilitate irrigation wells.

4. Ensure timely availability of quality seeds at affordable rates.

5. Provide a subsidy for liquid fertiliser and organic farming.

6. Pay the current fertiliser subsidy in cash during the drought season to cover farmers’ living expenses.

7. Develop a dedicated E-commerce portal to promote and increase profitability of organic farming, thereby increasing the availability of organic produce for consumers.

8. Implement smart farming: 

a. Farmer crop profiling and monitoring.

b. 7-day weather forecast.

c. Climate-based advisory and climate-smart irrigated agriculture programme.

d. Fertiliser application recommendation.

e. Crop stage monitoring.

f. Geo-tagging and mapping of plots.

g. Area surveys to guarantee minimum price of crops for farmers.

h. Harvest predictions.

i. Pest disease and advisory (timely crop advisory).

j. End-to-end traceability from nursery to trade.

k. Mobile crop advisory app for farmers.

l. Complete mapping of crops in Sri Lanka through satellite imagery to understand the extent of cultivation and estimate production.

m. Algorithm-based matchmaking between suppliers and buyers.

n. Reduce agriculture wastage by predicting crop yields across the country and providing optimal storage solutions.

9. Impose 50% of the current import duty at the beginning of the planting season and the remainder at a later stage, for all imported fresh produce that is locally grown.

10. Build an economic centre in every district. 

11. Share technical videos on crop cultivation methods on YouTube in Sinhalese and Tamil.

12. Provide daily information on crop production, input supply and marketing to farmers via the Internet.

13. Utilise domestic marketing channels and carry out advertising campaigns to promote the consumption of agricultural produce, strengthen wholesale markets, develop farmers and agricultural cooperative markets and promote contract farming.

14 Establish a national warehousing grid to ensure necessary logistical linkages for warehousing of agricultural produce to match district-wise requirements.

15. Launch a mobile app-based system to promote the availability and rental of agro-implements.

16. Assist the private sector to open ten large-scale hybrid isolated seed gardens by providing:

a. Hybrid (DXT) coconut seeds with a yield of 120 coconuts per tree, owned by Government farms.

b. Provide training for artificial pollination

17. Provide free landing and parking facilities for all cargo airlines at BIA Katunayake, Palali, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Koggala, Mattala and Digana in Kandy, in order to encourage agricultural exports.

18. Facilitate cargo airlines to fly internationally from Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Koggala and Digana (Kandy).

19. Reduce all agricultural imports and implement a predictable export and import policy.

20. Encourage Public Private Partnerships to reach a $ 300 million target for durian and mango exports, providing plants and technology to the private sector.

   Allow import of durian plants from Thailand to open nurseries and sell plants.

21. Provide the private sector with young sweet-coconut seeds imported from

Thailand, enabling them to open isolated seed gardens and sell plants.

22. Encourage the processing of value added agro products for the local and export market by the provision of tax breaks.