Honourable Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera, Mr. B. Wijayaratne Secretory Ministry of Agriculture, Ms. T. S. Weerakoon Project Director of Agriculture Sector Modernization Project, Ms. Jayanthi Dharmasena Managing Director of Hayleys Agriculture and two members (chairman and secretary) from each farmer organisation participated for this event. These farmer organisations are known as “Cucumber cultivation for global market” and farmer organisations from Uriyankaddu, Palchanai, Wammivattawan, Kathiraweli-1, Kathiraweli-2 participated for the event.
500 hundred farmers will get funds to develop infrastructure and irrigation facility through the project and the Department of Agriculture with Provincial Department of Agriculture will provide technical assistance for Good Agriculture Practise (GAP).Project spend Rs 372350/= for one Ac and the total expenditure will be Rs. 186 Mil. A farmer can earn a profit of Rs 250000/= per season (60 days) and three seasons could be cultivated per year.
Five hundred farmers will be divided in to 50 segments and a farmer’s company will be formed for each segment. In addition to cucumber cultivation, farmers will get bee hives to promote pollination and selling honey will be an additional income from the cucumber land. The Hayleys (Pvt) Ltd. agreed to purchase total production of the crop from the farmers for a prise agreed before every season. They also provide storage facility for farmers.
At present annual demand for the cucumber is 22,000 metric tons. Currently, the financial transection in the international market is US $ 71,857. However, the contribution of Sri Lankan pickle Cucumber to international markets is very low. The demand for pickle cucumber in the international market increased by 2.2% annually.
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