Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2018-10-23

Improvement of the quality of seeds and planting material.

- In terms of the Seed Act, No.22 of 2003, the Department of Agriculture is vested with the legal authority and responsibility of controlling the quality of all planting material such as food crops, plantation crops, export agricultural crops, ornamental flowers and foliage, forest plants and medicinal herbal crops. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Mahinda Amaraweera, the Minister of Agriculture, to provide the infrastructure facilities further needed for the seed testing laboratories that operate under the seed certification service of the Department of Agriculture to carry out the procedure presently being adopted in a more proper and an efficient manner, was approved by the Cabinet.