President Maithripala Sirisena says that it is vital to create a good market and reasonable price for farmers’ produce in the process of enriching Sri Lanka as an agricultural country and strengthening the economy of the farmers.
The President also said the immediate attention should be drawn to the problems faced by the farmers, when selling their produce, due to the large numbers of intermediaries.
He made these remarks joining the National Agribusiness Development Programme held at the Budhi Mandapaya Hall in Polonnaruwa, today (03).
This programme being implemented as a special project of the President’s Office and the foremost objective of this programme is to direct the rural agricultural community towards the sustainable income generation sources as well as to socialize them as agricultural entrepreneurs. Through these initiatives it is expected to strengthen their economy and boost their livelihood.
Speaking further, the President said that in some situations, the decisions government taken for the elevation of the agricultural industry will be admired and in some situations it is not appreciated and it cannot be avoided.
The President pointed out even though many projects were implemented with this commercialized society, the foundation of our country’s economy is agricultural. He added that the country’s present and future is also relying on the field of agriculture.
Due to outdated theories about the agricultural market, the quality and price a number of issues have arisen and if we want to take the country towards the development it is necessary to implement joint actions by the state sector, the private sector and the public, the President said.
President Sirisena further said that our agricultural sector should be strengthened to provide the required quantity through qualitative products to the local market, while the surplus exporting to the foreign markets to meet our import export gap .
Contributing to decide the prices of products while making the coordination between agricultural producers and marketing companies are done under the National Agribusiness Development Programme.
Through these initiatives, stable price will receive for the products of the agrarians and according to that they can directly contact the actual buyer. Permanent and reliable sales partners will meet to sell their agricultural products under this initiative.
With this the agricultural products manufacturer, will meet permanent and reliable sales partners to sell their products without the intervention of other intermediaries.
