CHATURANGA PRADEEP SAMARAWICKRAMA 
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Govt. to grow mandarin oranges locally: Minister
Although oranges are cultivated in many districts in the country, the Agriculture Ministry has decided to provide the necessary financial allocations for the cultivation of mandarin oranges in the lower areas of the Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Badulla districts.
This was revealed following a discussion at the ministry to utilise the funds allocated in the 2023 budget for new cultivation projects.
There is a huge demand for mandarin oranges, and a huge amount of foreign exchange is drawn to foreign countries annually when importing them, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.
"The government has spent Rs. 496 million to import oranges in 2022 and 2,407 metric tons of oranges have been imported. But more oranges had been imported to this country before 2022. In 2019, the amount of oranges imported into Sri Lanka was 7,773 metric tons and the amount spent was Rs. 949 million. In this way, Rs. 670 million and Rs. 735 million have been spent in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Most of the imported oranges are mandarin oranges," the minister said.
The research carried out for the cultivation of mandarin orange species in our country has been successful. Accordingly, the research officers of the Agriculture Department emphasized that rather than the upper parts of the central mountains, the lower areas of Badulla, Nuwara Eliya and Kandy districts were the areas with a suitable climate for growing mandarin oranges.
The government's goal is to grow every crop that can be grown in this country. A project report related to mandarin orange cultivation has been submitted and the Minister instructed the officials of the Department to take steps to establish the cultivation zone in Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Badulla districts within this year.
Currently, as many mandarin orange plants have been planted in the nurseries belonging to the Department of Agriculture, it has been decided to use them for the cultivation. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)
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