World Bank, European Union Funded Chili Cultivation scheme To Meet 21 Percent Of Country’s Requirement
Shakila Ifham
October 13, 2022
An estimated 21.2 percent of the total chili needs in the country would be met with the output of the chili grown by the Agriculture Sector Modernization Project (ASMP), which is a foreign aid funded scheme under the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Agriculture Ministry said that the modernization project, which is being implemented with funding from the World Bank and the European Union, has now cultivated 1600 acres of chilies using new technology in Anuradhapura, Kandy, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa and Monaragala districts.
The annual requirement of dry chilies in Sri Lanka is over 5000 – 20,000 metric tonnes. During this year, the amount of dry chilies imported into Sri Lanka is 28.612 metric tonnes. The government has spent Rs. 18,556 million to import the commodity indispensable to satisfy taste buds of Lankans.
To save this huge amount of money in this country, measures have been taken by the Agriculture Modernization Project to motivate the farmers to cultivate chilies and to introduce new technology and equipment needed for its cultivation to the farmers, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.
More than 3500 farmers have been provided facilities for chili cultivation and the quantity of dried chili produced by them is 12,800 metric tonnes. It is 21.02 percent of the total chili requirements here.
Statistics show each farmer gets between Rs. 1.4 million to 02 million from half an acre through the cultivation of chili using minimal chemical fertilizers and agrochemicals.
The Agricultural Sector Modernization Project has planned to expand this chili cultivation by another 200 acres this season.
Officials in charge of the project said that due to the cultivation of chilies using new technology, farmers have become rich and a farmer who cultivates chilies in one acre will get an income of Rs. 50 to 74 lakh rupees in six months.
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