Under the Agriculture Sector Modernization Project, the Ministry of Agriculture and Plantation Industries provided new technical benefits and advice to 100 farmers last year.
These farmers cultivated various crops such as chillies, sweet melons, sesame seeds and green grams. Under the Agriculture Sector Modernization Project, these farmers were introduced to modern cultivation techniques such as high density cultivation method, double raw cultivation method, and sprinkler and drip irrigation technology.
Accordingly, 80 out of 100 farmers of Thirappane who cultivated using the same technical methods managed to earn income from 2.5 million to 7.5 million rupees in the period of 02 to 09 months of the year 2023.
A program to appreciate these farmers was held recently (05) in Puliyankulama area of Thirappane. The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industry, Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera, and was held at the residence of Mr. Bandula, Puliyankulama, who earned an income of 12 million rupees from the cultivation of half an acre of chilli last year.
The new technological machine for drying chillies built by the Agriculture Sector Modernization Project at a cost of 13 million rupees was also handed over to the farmers by the minister. This machine is capable of drying 800 kg of ripe chillies at one time in 16 hours.
The Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industry, Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera, who expressed his views here-
Thirppane village is now a place known not only in Sri Lanka but the whole world. Today, the whole world knows about Buddhika Young, who earned 04 million rupees from an acre of watermelon in two months, and Mr. Puliyankulame Bandula, who earned 12 million rupees from half an acre of chillies.
To introduce modern agriculture to the youth community, the Honorable President Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe gave another amount of 2500 million rupees in addition to the budget of our ministry. Using this money, we will designate 150 villages in the island as new agro-technological model villages and bring them to a state of high income. We started giving this program this year. Accordingly, we select at least 05 villages from each district to be developed as agro-technical villages.
In the past, farmers always said that farming is a loss. But now there is a generation of farmers who say that we have earned a high income from farming. We should be thankful to Puliyankulam Bandula and Tirappane Buddhika who took steps for that.
Now we are a generation of farmers who claim to be making profits and a culture has been created because those farmers are really working hard. In the maha season of 2023, for the first time, many farmers in the Udawalawe zone were able to increase their yield to 12 metric tons per hectare. 12 metric tons of paddy is 12,000 kg of paddy. When such a large harvest can be obtained, even if a kilogram of paddy is sold at 50 rupees, the farmers will not incur any loss.
However, due to cultivation through new agricultural technology, the village of Thirappane is known worldwide as an area where farmer kings live.
Here, the farmers presented a gift to the Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industry Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera.
The Agriculture Sector Modernization Project provided all the facilities needed for cultivation to each of these farmers.
The post Farmers earn income from benefits provided under Agriculture Sector Modernization Project appeared first on DailyNews.