14.5 MT of hybrid maize seeds handed over: Miniser

22 November 2022 01:23 pm Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 3 Bookmark

CHATURANGA PRADEEP SAMARAWICKRAMA Follow

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A total of 14.5 metric tons of hybrid seeds of maize, which are sufficient for 2,900 farmers, was handed over to the Agriculture Ministry today, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.

The consignment of maize was handed over by the Royal Thai Government under the the UNDP aid of US$367,550 in Sri Lanka being part of the support to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka.

The Agriculture Ministry has set a target of producing 100,000 hectares of maize in this maha season to produce about 500 MT.

Minister Amaraweera thanked the JAICA and UNDP for providing seeds, which the Agriculture Department has already distributed to farmers in the country, and said that Sri Lanka is loyal to Thailand for their generous support in providing 14.5 MT of hybrid seeds, which is sufficient for 2,900 farmers at this critical time.

This will help to strengthen the bilateral relationship between Thailand and Sri Lanka.

The Agriculture Department has identified the most needed farmers to receive the seeds, and we hope the department will support farmers with new technology to get the maximum yield from these seeds. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)

Pix by Kithsiri de Mel

Comments - 3

Gehan Tuesday, 22 November 2022 01:41 PM

There goes another part the country's future food security over to multinationals for sterile GM seeds.

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Harak Katak Tuesday, 22 November 2022 02:58 PM

Is it better to just import maize from Thailand, and instead use even half of the 100,000 hectares to produce Cannabis (Marijuana) for export purpose. Why always just the same old same old, instead of trying higher earning cash crops.

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Sarath sirisena Tuesday, 22 November 2022 03:22 PM

I believe hybrid varieties will produce yields larger thal local seeds. But in the days and years gone by, the seed requirement for next season was always obtained by keeping aside some quantity of the harvest. Thus we never ran short of seed materials, be it Paddy, fruits, vegetables etc See what has happened to our lushious Papaw ( yellow variety) now completely overtaken by hubris seed varieties such as Red Lady etc, which also requires chemical protection from pests and deceases unheard of a few decades back. We have excellent researchers in the field of agriculture but unfortunately they are moved about like pawns on a chess board by politicians, who prefer to follow advises of un-related and unqualified sources. Let us even at this stage develop our own seed suitable for our climate. Let us save our country and it’s people from this vicious cycle of dependency and produce our own clones , seeds etc as the TRI , CRI, RRI and Rice research institute has done .

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