Government plans to re-introduce Northern Crops

The Government is planning to cultivate another 40, 000 acres of abandoned lands in the North this year and re-introduce all crops which were cultivated there before the conflict.

Northern Province Governor Major General G. A. Chandrasiri said that the government was planning to cultivate black gram on 19, 786 acres, groundnuts on 7,231 acres, red onions on 4, 709 acres, green chillies on 4, 329 acres and cowpea on 4, 729 acres in the area.

He said the government has already started to reconstruct all irrigation systems damaged by the war and that in the Maha season the farmers in the North have cultivated 212, 925 acres of land with the help of the monsoon rains. Between May and September, during the South West Monsoon they cultivate only about 8893 acres

The governor further said that according to statistics the extent of cultivated land in the province had increased by 60 per cent during 2010.

Accordingly, the extent of land that came under the plough increased by 130,422 acres last year, statistics revealed. The total cultivated land in year 2010 was 221,818 acres while in 2009 it was only 91,396 acres.

In the Yala season farmers in the Province cultivated 8,893 acres and during the present Maha season they cultivated 212,925 acres, the statistics further revealed.

"Two new paddy storage facilities would be opened in the province as we expect a huge increase in the Maha season harvest," Chandrasiri said.

Meanwhile, many projects are under way throughout the province to repair and reconstruct the irrigation network, the Governor said. With this the Government plans to assist farmers to cultivate nearly 35,000 acres of abandoned arable land in the province.