Potato Cultivation continues [Thinakaran]

Thinakaran Tamil Daily - Saturday 8 December 2007

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Potato Cultivation has been given a pride of place in CASP's (Canadian Agro-Sustainability Partnership) development activities for Ampara District this year, with further arrangements already afoot.

On the advice of CASP President Dougalas MacArthur and with the support given
by CIDA, Potato Specialist MIM Nazeer has undertaken potato projects in Alayadivembu, Wangamam, Padiyathalawa, Safa Nagar, Kuduvil, Samnmanthurai, Barakath Nagar, and Weheragama which cover all three communities and a hive of activity is going on at present. Potato Specialist Nazeer, who was responsible for the successful potato cultivation last year witnessed by Minister Fariel Ashraff, has been visiting the potato cultivators and has been providing them with special assistance and technical know-how.

District Agriculture Training Centre open at Palamuna

A District Agriculture Training Centre constructed at Palamunai in the Addalaichenai DS Division was ceremonially declared open on Monday, September 3rd.

The Centre, which was built at a cost of Rs. 7 million provided by the European Union through the UNDP, is very well equipped and includes a demonstration plot consisting of one acre of land. It will cater to the needs of 60,000 farmers in improving their agricultural abilities in the Tamil speaking areas of the coastal belt.

The Ambassador of the European Union in Sri Lanka, Julian Wilson, participated as chief guest at this ceremony and declared the Training Centre open by cutting the ribbon following the hoisting of the National Flag. Government Agent Sunil Kannangara, Deputy Director of Agriculture P.T. Nimal Dayaratna, Assistant Director of Agriculture R.M. Latheef, as well as Agricultural Officers and Instructors also participated.Ambassador Wilson expressed his happiness to complete such a worthy project in this area where farmers are in the majority and appealed to them to make the maximum benefit out of the Centre. “We love Sri Lanka, and hence the people of European Union showed their kind generosity by voluntarily giving their financial assistance to uplift the standard of the common masses in the eastern part of Sri Lanka”, the Ambassador said. He further revealed that a large sum of money has been set apart for development projects in various sectors in Ampara District.

The UNDP’s Ampara Officer in Charge Z.A. Joufer, EU Coordinator Kiran Kothari, and many other representatives from interested INGOs attended the ceremonies. Also present in large numbers were the coastal area farmers wishing to express their gratitude to the EU and UNDP in implementing this project successfully and helping to solve some of their long-standing problems.

Akkaraipattu Seed Paddy Processing Centre nears completion

On the initiative of Akkaraipattu Seed Paddy Producers Society, an outstanding problem of the farmers of the Ampara District is to be solved by the establishment of a full fledged Paddy Processing Centre along with a storage facility for seed paddy produced here in Akkaraipattu.

The work on this Rs. 15 million project commenced in November 2006, with funding assistance from the European Union through UNDP Ampara. Construction work is progressing quickly under the technical advises of the Department of Agriculture’s Extension, Seed Paddy, and Certifying Units, and is to be complete early next month.

Two important features of the project, a Seed Processing Machine and Seed Drier are to be brought down from Germany and India respectively. Once the project is complete, the Processing Centre will be in the position to supply 15,000 bushels of seed paddy after processing and certifying to the farmers of the District, helping to further facilitate their paddy cultivation.

A team of Officials from the European Union, headed by Ms. Merce de Torres and UNDP’s Ampara Chief Z.A. Joufer, visited the site recently and expressed their satisfaction after talking to the OIC of the Ampara Seed Paddy Processing Centre and members of the Akkaraipattu Seed Paddy Producers.It may be noted that Ampara District, the rice bowl of the Country, is the second largest paddy producing area in Sri Lanka, with 63,000 hectares of paddy cultivation fulfilling one fifth of the rice production in the Country. According to the Agriculture Department’s statistics, the farmers in the District produce 75% of the seed paddy required by the District themselves. Once this is more fully established, problems confronted by the farmers in the District in seeking quality seed paddy should be solved to a great extent.

Freshwater Fish Farming and more in Secretary's visit

The Secretary of the Provincial Ministry of Land, Irrigation, Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock Development & Health and Cooperatives of the Eastern Province, A.R.M. Maharoof, together with the Director of Fisheries, S. Suthakaran,
recently travelled to the Ampara and the Batticaloa Districts.

As part of this trip, they met with individuals involved in agriculture, livestock, and freshwater fish farming in Illukkutchchenai on Sunday, July 8th. Discussions included matters relating to integrated farming and the ways and means to develop these sectors in Ampara District.

The following day, the Secretary was the chief guest at the first-year anniversary of the Kayalvizi Freshwater Fish Farmers Association at the 11th colony in Central Camp. In 1952, under the Galoya Scheme, 150 poor farmer families were settled at this colony on 600 acres of land, and the population has now grown to 2,300 families.

As part of the anniversary activities, the Secretary awarded prizes to the winners of a quiz competition conducted for schoolchildren by the Association. He also visited the sixteen freshwater fish ponds constructed there by the humanitarian organisation World Concern and inspected the condition of the fishes.

During subsequent meetings, the Secretary said that the Eastern Provincial Council hoped to renovate the three tanks [man-made lakes] in Annamalai, Panama, and Illukkutchchenai, for the benefit of Tamil, Sinhalese, and Muslim farmers and freshwater fishermen in the region.

On Tuesday, July 10th, the Secretary introduced 15,000 of the Thelapia Nirotika variety of fishlings at the Neelavanai Periyakulam tank in Ampara District.

Governor announces new Office for Animal Production and Health

Hon. Re. Admiral Mohan Wijewickrama, RSP, USP, Governor of the Eastern Province, was the Chief Guest at the opening ceremony of the Assistant Director’s Office of the Department of Animal Production and Health in Ampara on Tuesday, June 12th. The Provincial Director and Assistant Director of the Department, Dr. C.K. Sivapalasingham and M.C.M. Junaid respectively, and veterinary surgeons from the twelve D.S divisions were present along with their officers and livestock farmers.

The Governor cut the ribbon and lighted the traditional oil lamp to declare the office open. At the meeting held after this function the Governor said that the veterinary surgeons and officers of the Department of Animal Production and Health had been functioning from the Director’s office in Batticaloa while covering Ampara District, which is a very large area.The surgeons and officers had to travel a long distance to Panama, down south, and to Mahoya south-west of Batticaloa. This was quite costly and took several days to render their services to the poor and down-trodden livestock farmers of Ampara District.

“This office, opened under Mahinda Chintana, will help develop livestock farming in Ampara District and will benefit livestock farmers while reducing the difficulties of veterinary surgeons and other officers of this
sector who were operating from the Batticaloa district,” said the Governor.

Dr. Gary Morgan examines Livestock Sector

After much work, including considerations of the Local Advisory Committee meetings conducted in the various livestock-producing areas of Ampara District, CASP's Master Plan for the livestock sector is nearing completion.

Dr. Gary Morgan, Vice President of CASP and an expert in livestock issues, travelled to Sri Lanka recently for this purpose. After meetings and discussions with the Ministry and Provincial Officials of the Livestock Sector in the Ministry, Dr. Morgan visited various dairy farms in places where dairy farmers have been actively engaged in livestock.

CASP Livestock Specialist, T. Chandrapragasam, then took Dr. Morgan to Pottuvil, Alayadivembu, Akkaraipattu, Addalaichenai, and Ampara to show him the current situation.Also on the agenda were discussions with NGO representatives who are very interested in expanding their livestock activities, which were inspected Dr. Morgan and who also investigated the feasibility of implementing these projects with funding assistance.

Oxfam Organic Agriculture Workshop

Humanitarian organisation Oxfam GB recently held a two-day Workshop on Sustainable and Diversified Alternative Agricultural Technology in Ampara District. Attendees included government officers from the Department of Agriculture & Agrarian Services, NGO personnel, and local farmers.

The workshop was opened at the Kachcheri by the District Secretariat - Ampara Planning Director, A.A. Bawa. Mr. Bawa emphasised the importance of organic farming if farmers were to survive and stressed the need to minimise the costs to produce high agricultural yields not only in Ampara District but in Sri Lanka as a whole.Oxfam GB Programme Manager, Krishnaswamy Gopalan, explained that farmers have been looking for other jobs as agriculture is not viable given the high cost of production here and that correcting this situation was of paramount importance to the country.

The first day of the workshop focused on theory and was organised by Erangi Ruchini Fernando, Programme Coordinator of Oxfam GB. The Executive Director of the Tamilnadu Organic Farmers' Movement, Ms. M. Revathi, instructed participants on organic farming, soil nutrient management, seed selection, sowing and storage, treatment, and integrated farming. Her colleague, Ms. K. Rajalakshmi, then spoke to the audience about food security, economic matters, environmental preservation, organic awareness, the global scenario, the Asian context, challenges with organic farming, and opportunities for Asian agriculture.

The participants were taken on a field visit to Vangamam on the second day of the workshop where local farmers were involved in organic farming with the assistance of the Tamil Nadu Organic Farmers' Movement. These farmers demonstrated their manner of selecting seeds and how to prepare organic manure, organic insect repellent, and boosters to make plants grow well and produce high yields using only cow dung, cow urine, milk, curd, ghee, rotten fruits, and wild plants found in abundance.Oxfam GB personnel explained that the cost of paddy production could be reduced three- to four-fold and that the yield could be increased to 150-200 bushels per acre with only two kilograms of seed paddy. Presently, around 100 kilograms of seed paddy would be sown using fertiliser and chemical insecticides that applied to the crops.

Participants told the Daily Mirror that “if this organic farming is proven a success here, with reduced production costs and high yields, then there won’t be any need for farmers to look for other jobs or leave the country for greener pastures elsewhere”.