World Bank assisted Agriculture Sector Modernization Project of the Ministry of Agriculture signed an agreement with Hayleys (Pvt) Ltd. and farmers of Batticaloa District for the cultivation of salad cucumber for export market and this cucumber variety has rising demand for food served at popular food chain circles such as Mcdonald’s, Burger king, Sub way etc.

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 implementing Good Agriculture Practise (GAP).

Five hundred farmers will be divided in to 50 segments and a farmers 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 demand for the cucumber is 22,000 metric tons annually. Currently, the financial transection in the international market is US $ 71,857. However, the contribution of Sri Lankan Green Cucumber to international markets is very low. The demand for Green cucumber in the international market increased by 2.2% annually.