AJITH SIRIWARDANA 
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COPA mulls promoting cultivation of Wallapatta plant
Colombo, August 3 (Daily Mirror)- The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) has highlighted the need to promote the cultivation of Wallapatta plants claiming that it is a plant that has a high potential to bring foreign exchange to Sri Lanka.
The Committee discussed this matter when the Department of Forest Conservation was called before the Committee recently.
The Committee Chair Lasantha Alagiyawanna gave instructions to pay more attention to the plant named Wallapatta as it is a plant that has a high potential to bring foreign exchange to Sri Lanka.
The officials of the Forest Department informed the Committee that there is no law banning the cultivation of the Wallapatta plant.
However, they pointed out that it is prohibited to cut these plants from forests and carry them illegally without permits. The officials also pointed out that cultivation of the imported plant called Aquilaria, which has the same characteristics as the Wallapatta plant, has already started in Sri Lanka.
The officials further stated that it is not easy to distinguish between Wallapatta and Aquilaria plants. It was pointed out that due to the difficulty of identification, smugglers are trying to advertise the Wallapatta plants cut from the forests as plants obtained from private plantations.
To avoid this situation, the officials informed the Committee that they will take the necessary steps to identify the two types of plants through a scientific method.
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