Lanka to formulate a National Agriculture Policy

The Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry of Sri Lanka is in the process of formulating a National Agriculture Policy, the Government Information department said. Agriculture and Irrigation Minister Duminda Dissanayake says that issues faced by the agriculture sector are most often long standing issues that have not been resolved due to the lack of proper policies. He explained that the farming community in the country needs to be strengthened financially and mentally in order uplift the country's agriculture sector. "What has happened all these years is that officials when faced with an issue provide an ad hoc solution which is discontinued afterwards when there is a change of government. What we need is a proper policy that will be continued," Dissanayake said. He added that attention needs to be paid to the fertilizer issue, cultivating in between the two main seasons, introducing environmentally friendly as well as technologically advanced systems for cultivating and gaining better yields.