According to a request of Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera from the Government, an amount of 430 million rupees has been given to cultivate uncultivated fallow fields.
The Agrarian Development Department is targeting to cultivate 11,000 acres of fallow fields in Sri Lanka in 2023, and at least 6,051 acres of this target will be cultivated this year.
Accordingly, it is planned to cultivate 1,075 acres in the Western Province, 682 acres in the Central Province, 1,700 acres in the Southern Province, 788 acres in the Northern Province, 388 acres in the North-West Province, 11 acres in Badulla in Uva Province, and 1,403 acres in Sabaragamuwa Province.
At present, more than 40,000 acres of fallow paddy fields across the country remain uncultivated, of which 25,192 acres can be used for paddy cultivation. Also 14,124 acres are suitable for short term crops.
During this year, the Agriculture Ministry has arranged to provide a financial subsidy of 36,000 rupees to farmers to prepare the basic land for one acre cultivated under the fallow paddy harvesting scheme.
Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera also mentioned that the attention has been focused on legal measures to cultivate fallow paddy fields in all districts in due course, as well as taking over uncultivated land to the Government and handing it over to another party for cultivation.
