The Israeli Government has expressed its willingness to implement agricultural projects in Sri Lanka similar to 32 ‘Center of Excellence’ projects implemented with India.
This was discussed at a meeting held between Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation Minister K.D. Lalkantha and the Israeli Ambassador to Sri Lanka Reuven Azar held at the Govijana Mandiraya, early this week.
Ambassador Azar said that such a project could provide modern technical knowledge and vocational training to Sri Lankan farmers.
He invited Minister Lalkantha to pay an official visit to Israel to gain further insight into an agricultural model suitable for Sri Lanka.
He said that during the visit, the Minister would be able to witness first-hand the modern agricultural technologies, projects and methodologies in Israel and gain a necessary vision for modernizing Sri Lankan agriculture.
The Ambassador also expressed his readiness and agreement to provide the necessary support to Sri Lanka. He also requested the Government to prepare and submit a list of priorities for this purpose.
Minister Lalkantha emphasized the need of modernizing the agricultural sector to attract Sri Lankan youth to the agricultural sector.
“It will only be possible to attract youth to agriculture by building an agricultural sector equipped with modern technology, innovation and amateur methods”, he said while emphasizing the requirement of consolidating small-scale farming lands in Sri Lanka to increase their productivity.
Minister also pointed out that it was essential to create farmer companies while protecting the land ownership of farmers, which will increase the productivity of agriculture and reduce costs by operating in a business-like manner.
