Sept 14, Colombo: The government has allocated 500 million rupees for this year to encourage farmers to popularize vegetable cultivation in poly tunnels.

Accordingly, 30 farmers will be selected from each district covering all the districts of the country and they will be given Rs. 500,000 as a 50% subsidy, Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera said.

The Minister of Agriculture Wednesday (13) held a discussion with the officials of the Agrarian Development Department regarding the cultivation program in the greenhouses. Mr. A.H.M.L. Abeyratne. Commissioner General of Agrarian Development Department and senior officials of the department participated in the discussion.

“The government has given 500 million rupees this year for the project to encourage farmers to grow in greenhouses. The Ministry of Agriculture will give 500,000 rupees to each selected farmer and the remaining 500,000 rupees should be borne by the farmer.

The program will be implemented to cover all the districts and at least 30 farmers will be selected from each district.

The Minister pointing out the advantages of the poly tunnel farming said, using the method, crop damage is reduced, especially in the case of vegetable cultivation, quality vegetables can be supplied to the market and the poly tunnels can be used for several years, so the farmers are also able to get a good income.

This poly tunnel cultivation project is another step in introducing new agricultural technology to farmers.

“We are giving priority to the younger generation in the poly tunnel cultivation project. There is no confidence in the youth community regarding agriculture today. Therefore, the confidence in the agriculture of this country should be re-instilled in the youth. For that we are starting this poly tunnel project,” the Minister said.

Also, our aim is to select one village in each district and develop that village as a model village for cultivation in greenhouses, and to bring the farmers who carry out the cultivation work under one people’s company. This will provide an opportunity to give the harvest to the market without intermediaries and to sell it to the consumer at a reasonable price," Minister Amaraweera said.