Agriculture Dept Launches Drive To Increase yield Of country’s Staple Food rice
Shakila Ifham
February 22, 2023
The Department of Agriculture yesterday launched an action plan to increase paddy yield per hectare to 5.5 tonnes within the next 10 years.
Director General Agriculture Malathi Parasuraman said that a programme has been started with the aim of increasing the yield to 4.7 tonnes in three years, 5.1 tonnes in five years, and 5.5 tonnes in 10 years under this programme. .
The Department of Agriculture has started collating all groups who have conducted research related to rice cultivation with the aim of increasing the cultivation of the country’s staple food.
Currently, the paddy yield per hectare is about 3.5 tonnes. Accordingly, attention has been paid to expand rice cultivation by targeting every aspect like seed production, soil testing, effective use of organic and chemical fertilizers, introduction of new technology to rice cultivation, marketing and preservation of crops and use of insecticides and herbicides, she said.
Dr. Jayantha Senanayake, Director of Batalagoda Rice Research Institute said that the BG 369 rice variety produced by BRRI can be recommended for obtaining the highest rice yield from the paddy fields of the Western Province, and the highest rice yield per hectare can be obtained with that rice variety.
He said that some 8000 hectares will be allocated for seed paddy production this year. For that, 10,000 farmers will be given special training.
The Department of Agriculture also emphasizes that 25 percent of the total seed requirement has already been produced.
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