‘Colossal amounts of vegetables and fruits going waste in SL due to non-adoption of greenhouse technology’

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

Sri Lanka farmers should adopt more affordable high tech/mid tech farming methods, such as greenhouse cultivation, to increase yield and minimize post- harvest waste in fruit and vegetable produce, like in Netherlands, chairman, Agri Innovation and Lassana Group of companies Dr. Lasantha Malavige said.

“Netherlands being half the size of Sri Lanka, is the second largest fresh food exporter in the world. It adopts state- of- the- art technology, like the greenhouse concept, to ensure higher yields against environmental/climate and other external and internal changes, Malavige told the media at a function at the Hilton Colombo last week.

At the function Malavige announced that his company had entered into a partnership agreement with Ginegar India and Agrilast India, to open its doors to advanced green solutions for local farmers to ensure higher yield and safer food production for Sri Lanka.

Malavige went on to add: ‘Sri Lanka’s post- harvest waste of fresh fruit and vegetables is 35 percent to 40 percent while another 20 percent to 30 percent is considered to be of poor quality due to lack of proper knowledge among farmers of the relevant applications of chemicals and of the plants’ vulnerability to climate change due to the continued adoption by them of traditional farming methods.

‘At present the Netherlands has a greenhouse fresh food agriculture cultivation covering more than 40000 hectares but unfortunately Sri Lanka has less than 200 hectares to cultivate fresh food greenhouses. Due to non- use of technology used in the fresh food industry in our traditional farming methods, we incur low yields due to climate change and other external and internal factors.

“The adoption of greenhouse technology would empower local traditional farmers to produce high quality safe food at an affordable price for consumers. Apart from that, a kilogram of carrots costs more than Rs. 1000 in Sri Lanka, while in the UK it costs approximately one Sterling Pound, which is equivalent to Rs 408. This had happened due to irregular weather patterns or continuous rains and other farming deficiencies compounded by the adoption of traditional farming methods in Sri Lanka.

‘Lassana Agri Innovation guides farmers in choosing the right technological solution by moving away from traditional farming, offering advice, guidance and support for higher yields. For that purpose the company plans to launch a first in the country incubation and knowledge- sharing centre for hi-tech farming at its 7- hectare greenhouse facility in Divulapitiya.’

CEO Lassana Agri Innovations, Prasand Sanadeera, said that their Centre will empower new entrants and farmer entrepreneurs, doubling the extent of greenhouse cultivation every two years over the next decade.

‘With over 70 years of combined experience, Ginegar Agriplast has been a game changer in the agriculture sector, assisting over 250,000 farmers in India. The company is also renowned for top- notch farming products, including greenhouse covers, he added.