Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2018-09-18

National Food Production Programme

- The Cabinet has granted approval previously to implement the National Food Production Programme with the objective of reducing the foreign exchange spent for the importation of food by producing all food items which can be produced locally of good quality. However, it has been difficult to achieve the expected targets of this programme due to the bad whether condition that prevailed in the country during the recent past. Accordingly, the proposal made by H.E. the President Maithripala Sirisena, to extend this programme up to the years 2019 and 2020 which includes renovating tanks Island wide, promoting new technological methods among farmers, empowering persons engaged in agricultural, fisheries and livestock fields as entrepreneurs, promoting the renewable energy usage in the said fields, uplifting local milk production and encouraging relevant research work in the field of food production, and to provide necessary funds for that purpose, was approved by the Cabinet.