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Government pays attention towards dairy industry in the Eastern Province
Government pays attention towards dairy industry in the Eastern Province
31 August: Sri Lanka government says that it has allocated Rs. 1988 million to develop the dairy sector in the Eastern Province. The Eastern Province with vast grazing fields and an abandon of traditional farmers was famous as the milki bowl of the country before the ethnic strife escalated completely changing the situation.
The mass destruction of agricultural infrastructure, forced migration and internal displacements of farmer families caused destruction in the field of dairy farming.
The government recently captured the areas that were under control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) and pledged to develop the infrastructure of the area. However, the political environment in the Eastern Province is still tense with possibility of more destruction.
The Minister of Livestock Development C.B. Rathnayaka says that the allocation will be utilized for the reconstruction of the government and private sector dairy farms, to develop the collecting centers, to set up milk factories, to form organizations of the dairy farmers, to uplift the living standards of the dairy farmers and to promote dairy food.
The government has five dairy farms in Kandakaduwa, Thrikonamadu, Uppuweli, Pathurukanda and Kirimuttiya in the Eastern Province. Most of them are now in dilapidated condition. The Ministry hopes to reopen some of them with stray cattle.
