By Ifham Nizam

The Department of Agrarian Development yesterday said that no cultivator in Sri Lanka had abandoned farming in the past few years.

The Department’s senior officials were responding to Agriculture, Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation Minister Mahinda Amaraweera when they were instructed to immediately provide a report containing correct information regarding the statements made by certain individuals and groups that farmers are giving up paddy cultivation.

Accordingly, the Department of Agrarian Development emphasised that no farmer had quit paddy cultivation during the past several years.

In the 2019 yala season, 308,028 hectares of paddy were cultivated in Sri Lanka and the number of farmers was 470,286.

During the 2019-20 Maha season, 673,928 hectares of paddy were cultivated and the number of farmers involved was 901,295.

In the 2020 yala season, 513,755 hectares were cultivated with paddy and the number of farmers were 840,487.

During the 2020-21 season, 777,915 hectares were cultivated and 1,152,503 farmers were engaged in paddy cultivation.

In the 2021 Yala season, 526,698 hectares of paddy had been cultivated. The number of farmers engaged was 833,892.

In this year’s yala season 490,515 farmers were engaged in paddy cultivation and the extent of cultivated paddy land was 304,734 hectares. However, after the government started providing urea fertiliser some 512,000 hectares of paddy were cultivated.

The Department of Agrarian Development says there is no reduction in the amount of paddy fields used for cultivation or the number of farmers engaged in paddy cultivation. Also, the Department of Agrarian Development says that the largest quantity of paddy cultivated in a Yala season so far has been recorded in the 2022 yala season.