More help for spice growers

Thursday, 28 April 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shezna Shums

The Department of Agriculture is to improve agricultural activities in the country to further increase the country’s exportation of agricultural products.

Plans are underway to improve farmers’ livelihoods as well as increase export earnings from agricultural exports.

The Department of Agriculture hopes to improve the cultivations of pepper, betel leaves and arecanuts during the initial part of the project.

According to the department, over 60 acres are to be cultivated for arecanut, 130 acres for pepper and 50 acres of land will be used to grow betel creepers.

Sri Lanka exports spices such as pepper, coffee, cinnamon, cardamoms, cocoa, citronella, cloves, nutmeg, lemongrass, arecanut and vanilla.

According to the Department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka cinnamon is world famous and is used widely around the world.

The Department of Export Agriculture conducts development activities and services mainly focusing in the wet and intermediate climatic zones of Sri Lanka covering 14 Districts of Kandy, Kurunegala, Matale, Colombo, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Monaragala, Hambantota, Ratnapura, Gampaha, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya and Matale in addition several development activities carried out to introduce and popularise turmeric, ginger, arecanut and pepper in some parts of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa Districts.

The commodity-based agricultural extension approach has been mainly used for achieving the mandated tasks of the department and provides required plants, planting materials and advisory services on free of charge along with cash grant as a reward to the farmers through the development assistance scheme implemented by the department.