Highest paddy harvest reported from Udawalawe zone

Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera said that the highest paddy yield in the season has been recorded from the paddy fields belonging to the Udawalawe zone.

The minister said this while addressing a press conference held at the Presidential Media Unit yesterday morning (01).

The minister also said that it is a special event that this year the highest paddy yield has been recorded from the paddy fields of Udawalawa zone, where the highest crop losses were reported due to the long drought last season.

It was also stated that according to the disclosure made in relation to paddy cultivation at the meeting of the crop leaders held at the Ministry of Agriculture and Plantation Industries yesterday (29), the harvest that can be obtained from paddy cultivation in this maha season will exceed 3.6 million metric tons of paddy.

These facts have been revealed according to the current crop cutting surveys.

The minister also mentioned that the gratitude of the entire people should be expressed to the agricultural people of the country for getting such a harvest in a situation where 100,000 acres of paddy cultivation had been destroyed due to the heavy rains that lasted for four and a half months this maha season.

Also, the highest paddy harvest loss has been recorded this year. In particular, 10 to 15 percent of the total rice harvest has been wasted after harvesting due to the delay in harvesting. Post-harvest wastage is as high as 25 percent in some areas. Agriculture departments have emphasized that at least 3 lakh metric tons of paddy has been wasted due to this post-harvest wastage.

Especially in paddy harvesting, some farmers are reluctant to harvest until 100 percent of the pods ripen. Because of this, the best of the paddy pods fall to the ground during harvesting. Therefore, if the paddy pods are harvested within thirty or thirty-five days after emergence, this kind of post-harvest wastage will not occur, the minister also mentioned.

The Minister also mentioned that the most successful method in preparing land for paddy cultivation is by using disk plows and moldboard plows to get the highest yield.

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