The opening ceremony of the planting of saplings, which took place today (18), was held under the patronage of the Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industry, Mahinda Amaraweera.
Saplings were planted at 10.16 AM auspicious time and this national auspicious time was celebrated, and fruit saplings were planted at the premises of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera, Minister of State Mr. Kader Masthan, Secretary of the Ministry Mr. Janaka Dharmakeerthi and other officials and all the staff also participated in this event.
Minister Mahinda Amaraweera who expressed his views here – In 2020, when I was the Minister of Environment, for the first time I was able to include the auspicious time of planting trees in the Sinhala Tamil New Year auspicious time sheet. According to a proposal submitted to the Jathika Nekath Comituwa, the planting is now maintained as a separate auspicious ritual.
As the environment minister then, my goal was to achieve the goal of increasing our forest cover to 30%. So I said plant any saplings that you prefer. At present, as the Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industry, I would like to request the people to plant a plant that gives fruit, not just any plant. In 2018, during my tenure as the Minister of Agriculture, the program of cultivating one million jackfruit plants was started. The jackfruit trees that were planted then have grown to bear fruit today.
You know, we are now self-sufficient in rice. In 2022, we imported 08 lakh metric tons of rice. But now we do not need to import rice. Throughout the year 2023, our people consumed rice obtained from rice grown in our country. We have cultivated enough rice in our country to produce rice this year as well. Our goal is to be self-sufficient in other food crops as well.
We should plant at least one million saplings in the National Tree Plantation auspicious time. We have that goal. I declare that every plant that is planted is a plant that gives some income as well as a plant that gives fruit.
The Department of Export Agriculture has planted 1.5 million arecanut trees, the Small Tea Estate Development Authority has planted 1.3 million tea saplings to fill vacant in the tea plantations, the Department of Agrarian Development has started the program of planting 100,000 gardens, and the Department of Agriculture has started 30,000 gardens programs from today. The coconut Cultivation board will start planting 100,000 new coconut saplings, and planting spices such as cinnamon and pepper will start today.
Accordingly, in the office premises of every institution under the Ministry of Agriculture and Plantation Industry throughout the island, a plant bearing fruit will be planted in conjunction with this national tree planting auspicious occasion. The minister also mentioned that.
