Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2016-10-25

Incentivizing the Consumption of Good Quality Food under the National Programme of Food Production - (2016-2018)

- Surveys have revealed that people are mostly afflicted with non-communicable diseases due to the consumption of food cultivated by utilizing chemical substances and as such, making them accustomed to a pattern of consumption of good quality food is an essential factor. Therefore, attention is focused in promoting the consumption of toxin-free good quality food as a major item of the National Programme of Food Production which is prioritized by the Government. In this connection, a major problem posed is the inadequacy of seeds available for the cultivation of qualitative food crops.

With the objective of increasing the availability of quality seed paddy for farming, it is proposed to provide the farmers with a certain quantity of quality seed paddy of traditional varieties free of charge for the Maha Season 2016/2017. Accordingly, the proposal made by H.E. the President Maithripala Sirisena, to purchase 400,000 kg of seed paddy with the assistance of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Services from the farm lands where traditional varieties have been cultivated and distribute them among the selected farmers with the support of the relevant authorities and also to give them the technology required, was approved by the Cabinet.