• Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size

Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2017-06-06
Improvement of the Seed Conservation Division of the Plant Genetic Resource Centre
- Sri Lanka is a country endowed with a high biodiversity. With the aim of conservation of biodiversity, the Plant Genetic Resource Centre had been established at Gannoruwa with the financial assistance of the Japanese Cooperation Fund in 1989 and by now, 14500 samples of plants have been conserved in the Plant Genetic Resource Bank. This Genetic Resource Bank provides a high contribution for the upliftment of the national agriculture by providing such conserved crops to the Research Officers and the farmers engaged in traditional agriculture for breeding new high yielding varieties with proven resistance to climatic changes, diseases and pesticides. The Genetic Resource Centre comprises of a conservation Unit with 16 Cool Rooms and the proposal made by Hon. Duminda Dissanayake, the Minister of Agriculture, to obtain the necessary funds from the General Treasury for updating the technology used for functioning of the cooling systems according to the standards set by the International Conventions, was approved by the Cabinet.