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If you want to cultivate, Govt. ready to give new land for 6 months to one year
View(s):Ambitious plan to promote agriculture among the people; but farmers claim the agenda is to privatise public land
They said the land would be provided to cultivate short-term food crops, while the Divisional Secretariats would be responsible for considering the suitable people the land would be given to.
In another programme, 3000 acres of land had been provided to the Army to cultivate crops, while the Government was to acquire barren paddy fields for five years, unless the owner took measures to cultivate the land. The official said the Government had estimated there were more than 100,000 hectares of barren paddy fields.
These moves come as only 40% of the expected area had been cultivated for the concurrent Yala season, as farmers did not have fuel and fertiliser.
Addressing this issue, the Agriculture Ministry had taken measures to provide farmers with fuel, by allocating 147 petrol stations for farmers and obtaining the necessary urea in collaboration with the Indian Government. About 65,000 metric tonnes of urea was expected to be received by July 7.
The Ministry had also taken measures to address the prevailing food shortage by planning to provide the required chemical fertiliser and urea for farmers in the upcoming Maha season with aid from the World Bank. Programmes promoting the cultivation of corn were also scheduled to begin. A scheme to rapidly convert paddy into rice had also been implemented.
He said in pursuing a self-sufficient economy and overcoming the current food shortage, the Ministry had named 13 types of crops with a respective crop leader for each, while simultaneously providing the required fertiliser. With the decrease in imports of Masoor dhal, it was planned to promote green gram cultivation by providing women of low-income families with the funds needed.
Involving the people in agricultural activities, including people of urban areas, the Ministry was promoting home gardening under the title “Ekwa Wawamu – Rata Dinawamu”, while attempting to cultivate land belonging to state institutions.
Various cultivation activities were promoted through social media and people were educated on cultivation methods by the respective officers. Public officers, who had received an additional holiday, were encouraged to engage in cultivation activities, supervised by agricultural research and production assistant officers.
However, the All Island Farmer’s Federation Secretary T. B. Sarath, said the Government’s objective was to distance the farmer from agriculture and privatise public land. Rejecting the Government’s proposal of acquiring barren land, he said some lands had increased acidic levels since streams providing water had gone dry thereby, making the land barren. He also said 800,000 hectares had already been
cultivated but the necessary fertiliser had not yet been provided.
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