Report called for on why farmers have abandoned crop

Last week, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera instructed the Agriculture Department to give him an immediate report regarding the cultivation of big onions in the country as it is reported that farmers have abandoned big onion cultivation.

The Big onion cultivation in our country was successfully done many years ago. But for the last seven or eight years, big onion cultivation has been very unsuccessful.

The annual requirement of big onions in our country is 300,000 metric tons, but the national production in this year is 4,716 metric tons.

The amount imported during this year is 131,795 metric tons. Considering the amount produced in the country and the amount imported, the current availability of big onions in the country is 136,509 metric tons.

The Minister instructed the Agriculture Department to take measures to increase the production of big onions in the country or to divert farmers to other crops where they can get high yields as the land on which big onions are grown by farmers is being cultivated at a loss.

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