Pelwatte Dairy partners with National Farmer Support Programme

Pelwatte Dairy that produces a range of dairy goods and saves valuable foreign exchange, is embarking on an innovative project of collaboration to fulfill a diverse array of farmer family needs.

Pelwatte Managing Director Akmal Wickramanayake said: “In our latest initiative to serve our 10,000 strong dairy farmer community, we have obtained the membership of the Smallholder Agribusiness Partnership Program (SAPP), a small scale agribusiness partnership program implemented with Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Agriculture. SAPP aims to help 10,000 dairy farmers from eight districts -Anuradhapura, Nuwara Eliya, Kurunegala, Monaragala, Polonnaruwa, Badulla, Ampara, and Puttalam- to improve their commercial partnerships, access to finance, technical know-how, agriculture mechanization and sustainable practices.”

He said that the current economic situation in the country has impacted the dairy farming community extensively. “Still, we at Pelwatte ensure production of dairy at the best quality. Therefore, we felt that it is our duty to partner with SAPP grants program and to lead by example. We will financially contribute to important life events of farmer families such as marriage of a family member, birth of a new member to the family, a farmer’s child is admitted to grade 1, a farmer’s child passes the Grade 5 scholarship or enters the university, when a female child reaches puberty, when a family member becomes disabled or faces heart surgery and/or kidney/cancer treatments, and on the death of a family member. We feel privileged to be part of a national dairy program that assists Sri Lankan dairy farmer community in many ways,” he noted.