Govt. to harness prisoners’ brawn in cultivation drive

Army, CDF to lead food growing campaign

By Saman Indrajith

The government has planned to deploy 3,000 prisoners to boost agricultural production along with Army, and Civil Defense Force personnel, it was revealed at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Agriculture recently.

The Committee members also discussed the need to encourage people to start home garden cultivation and to use land at all government institutions for growing food. They said that people were now keen to cultivate in view of the feared food crisis.

The Committee convened under the chairmanship of Minister of Agriculture and Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation Mahinda Amaraweera.

The Committee also observed that they needed to use unused paddy lands in all areas, including the Colombo District, to grow food. The government also needed to study the possibility of reclaiming some paddy land, the committee said.

Accordingly, it was important to establish a committee at the district level and prepare a proper document regarding cultivable paddy lands and non-cultivable lands, Minister Amaraweera said.

The Committee also paid attention to the importance of encouraging rural and urban youth to cultivate abandoned paddy lands, and told officers of the need to prepare and implement a proper plan for the purpose. The assistance of the Agricultural Research Officers had to be obtained for the continuous cultivation of lands which are not currently cultivated, Amaraweera said.

Members of Parliament Cader Mastan, Tharaka Balasuriya, Sivagnanam Sridharan, Mohamed Muzammil, Weerasumana Weerasinghe, Madhura Withanage, Upul Mahendra Rajapaksha and officials were present at the discussion.