• Multi-purpose tractors to be provided; drivers paid monthly commission

The Ministry of Agriculture has instructed the relevant officials to take immediate steps to turn the 566 agrarian service centres across the island into centres that provide technical assistance to farmers.

Speaking at a meeting at the Ministry yesterday (15), subject Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that high expenditure on land processing and other related activities is one of the main issues faced by farmers. He further said that agriculture-related proposals in the 2024 Budget also include the conversion of agrarian service centres located islandwide into centres that provide technical services to farmers.

The establishment of a technical unit at all 566 agrarian service centres in the country and the provision of multi-purpose tractor services to farmers at concessional rates had also been discussed during the meeting. The Minister said that the multi-purpose tractors that would be distributed to these centres could be used not only for land processing, but also for many other forms of agricultural activities.

Instructing the Department of Agrarian Development to take steps to provide the necessary machinery including tractors to agrarian service centres, Amaraweera said that tractor drivers would, however, not be paid a salary. He said that they would instead be provided with a certain percentage of the income as a monthly commission.

Meanwhile, the Ministry – together with several other institutions – had recently launched a mobile application named “Geo Goviya” which covers over one million paddy fields and farmers, in order to facilitate the provision of all types of information pertaining to the agriculture sector. The application had been developed by the Ministry, the Department, the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies, and the International Water Management Institute.