Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has decided not to grant approval for long-term overseas travelling abroad for officials attached to the agriculture sector.

He said this covers the Central Government's Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Development and Provincial Council agriculture sector officials.

A lengthy discussion on this matter was held yesterday at the Provincial Agricultural Conference at the Ministry.

The officials made a proposal to the Minister in charge of Provincial Agriculture not to grant approval for long-term overseas travel, as the approval of the Agriculture Minister is required in case for doing so.

Currently a lot of vacancies in many positions such as Agriculture Instructor, especially those working in the agriculture sector. No recruitment has been done to fill those vacancies for years.

If the officials of the agriculture sector go abroad for a long period of time, there is a risk that the agriculture sector of our country would collapse completely.

Therefore, Minister Amaraweera said that he will not give approval to the officials of the agriculture sector for long trips abroad, taking these matters into consideration.

The minister informed all the agriculture officials that this decision will be implemented until new recruitments are made for the currently vacant positions and not to forward the requests made by the officers related to the agriculture sector for long-term trips abroad. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)