Alexis Taylor, Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), along with U.S. Ambassador Julie Chung, engaged with President Ranil Wickremesinghe and senior Government officials today (26) to reinforce USDA's support for Sri Lanka's agricultural sector.

During the discussions, emphasis was placed on Sri Lanka's pivotal role as a priority country in the 2024 Food for Progress initiative, focusing on enhancing food security and climate resilience through sustainable practices and enhanced market connections.

The U.S. Embassy in Colombo highlighted the impact of the ongoing $27.5 million 'market-oriented dairy project,' which has notably doubled milk productivity for over 15,000 dairy farmers. This project also includes specialised training to enhance climate adaptability among dairy farmers by optimising cattle herding and feed consumption strategies to minimise energy usage.

The embassy stated that, since 2018, USDA's McGovern-Dole project, executed by Save the Children in partnership with the Ministry of Education, has provided daily meals to nearly 100,000 primary schoolchildren across Sri Lanka. Expanding on this success, USDA has initiated a new five-year, $32.5 million project to expand school meal provisions in eight districts, benefiting close to 200,000 students within Sri Lanka's national school meal program.