(UTV | COLOMBO) – A Presidential Task Force has been appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to promote Green Agriculture.
Vijith Welikala has been appointed Chairman of the 14-member Task Force.
An Extraordinary Gazette Notification was released yesterday undersigned by Secretary to the President, P.B. Jayasundara.
The Taskforce has been appointed to initiate a developed agricultural economy and to create an opportunity for local and international consumers to obtain toxin-free agricultural products.
The Gazette states the government plans to create an eco-friendly healthy green agriculture thereby minimizing the chemical waste materials being added to the soil and water.
The 14-member Task Force will formulate a systematic programme for sustainable maintenance of green agriculture, identify the organic fertilizer required for various crops and improve the quality of such fertilizer production while making plans to produce pesticides and weedicides locally.
It has also been tasked with identifying methodologies and monitoring a mechanism for importing fertiliser on the approval of the Sri Lanka Standards Institute in meeting the requirements through local production.
The Task Force will also communicate the health-related socio-economic benefits of organic food production while obtaining support of the state service.