National Master Plan for agriculture launched

A National Master Plan for agriculture has been prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture on the advice of President Maithripala Sirisena to boost food production in the country with special emphasis on women taking to agriculture in their respective areas.

This was stated by Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture B. Wijayaratne addressing the ‘Female Food Heroes Public Forum’ at the Western Province Aesthetic Resort at Stanley Wijesundara Mawatha Colombo 7 last week. He said a special Presidential Task Force too has been created at the Presidential Secretariat to oversee and co-ordinate the National Food Production Programme.

The Secretary further said that a blueprint including 14 areas that lay emphasis on women’s participation in agriculture and food production was prepared in the three languages known as the Wadduwa Declaration by the Agricultural Ministry. “Under the 13th amendment of the Constitution powers are vested in the Provincial Councils where the subject of agriculture is concerned. At the Wadduwa summit it was decided that both the Central and the Provincial Governments will work together in conjunction with the National Policy on agriculture and food production,” he said adding that the Wadduwa summit also saw the participation of all agricultural ministers from the Provincial Councils who agreed on the proposed Master Plan.

He said under the Master Plan all the nine provinces and the 25 districts have separate master plans. The Assistant Divisional Secretaries of these 25 districts have been assigned targets to perform in relation to different agriculture product.

Agriculture is considered as an integral pillar in the Sri Lankan economy where a majority of Sri Lankans in the rural sector is engaged in agriculture livelihood. Women play a key role in the agricultural sector of the country although their con- tribution is left unrecognised and does not reflect in the national or provincial level policy framework. It has been observed that women’s contribution to agriculture was considered as unpaid labour within families although they play dual roles within farms and households. However women’s role in agriculture is not limited to food security for their families but they also play a major role in promoting environmentally friendly sustainable food production systems.

The ‘Female Food Heroes’ is a campaign launched by Oxfam, Monlar, NAFSO and a number of other local civil society organisations in Sri Lanka to get policy makers to recognize women’s role in food production and to implement necessary policy and programme changes to protect and support their livelihood.

Meanwhile the following recommendations among others were submitted to the government to create a level playing field for both men and women:

(a) The gender neutrality intended for granting land should be applied uniformly without favouring men. (b) Clear operational guidelines should be sent to all administrative units from the Commissioner General of Lands with regard to equal allocation of state lands to both men and women.