Problem of uncultivated lands in eight districts resolved

By Ifham Nizam 

The Agriculture Ministry claims that the problem of uncultivated arable lands has been sorted out in eight districts.

 Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that currently there were some 100,000 acres of uncultivated paddy lands.

 Most of them are located in the Western Province. About 50,000 acres of uncultivated paddy fields in the Western Province can be recultivated.

 The Ministry of Agriculture, Wildlife and Forest Resources Development instructed the Department of Agrarian Development to hand over the cultivable lands, whose owners were not interested in cultivating them, to others who are desirous of growing food, for a period of five years.

 Accordingly, the Department of Agrarian Development has launched a special programme for recultivating abandoned paddy fields. Under the Agricultural Development Act, arrangements have been made to hand over uncultivated paddy land to farmers.

Last week, a review meeting was held in the Department of Agrarian Development on the progress of the programme.

The Department of Agricultural Development mentioned that action had been taken to cultivate all arable lands in eight districts, namely, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Moneragala, Ampara, Hambantota, Batticaloa, Kilinochchi and Trincomalee.

 There were 21,200 acres of uncultivated paddy lands in those eight districts and necessary steps had been taken to cultivate all of them during the next Maha season, the minister was told.

The Minister advised officials to solve the problem of uncultivated cultivable lands in the Western Province, using the Indonesian method of cultivation – the Sojan method. The Minister pointed out that under the Sojan system, vegetable and fruit cultivation can be done in swampy lands and freshwater fish cultivation in deep canals around the beds.

 The Minister instructed the officials to implement the programme launched by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to ensure food security.

 Secretary of the Ministry, Rohana Pushpakumara, Commissioner General of the Department of Department of Agrarian Development, H.M.L. Abeyratne, and a group of officers were also present at the discussion.