Saturday Nov 23, 2024
Saturday Nov 23, 2024
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Participants
Presentation from SLSI
Resource persons
The Agriculture Sector Modernisation Project (ASMP) recently conducted its second awareness program in the Central Province for those involved in agriculture-based farming, production, manufacturing for value addition and export.
The workshop was held at the Plant Genetics Resource Centre (PGRC) in Gannoruwa, Kandy, where 35 entrepreneurs participated.
ASMP Project Director Rohana Gamage presided the session and Regional Matching Grant Manager Udula Bandara, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist Nirosha Nissanka and Value Chain Specialist Vajira Perera also addressed the session.
In addition, officials from the Export Development Board (EDB) Kandy Regional Office and two deputy Directors of Sri Lanka Standard Institute (SLSI) also shared insights on export market, procedure and Quality Management System (QMS) respectively.
As of now, the ASMP has awarded a sum of Rs. 798 million to 59 prospective agriculturists in the Central Province, excluding clusters, to enhance their Value Chain Developments in their outputs, processes under the sectors.
The sectors/sub-sectors considered for grants in the region are horticulture (with protected agriculture), spices, other food and non-alcoholic beverages, medicinal and aromatics, coconut kernel based and non-kernel based. Central Region of the ASMP covers six districts such as Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Matale, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kurunegala.
The Regional unit has initiated small and medium scale farmer development through cluster program and financed for innovative technology of mushroom cluster projects in these six districts.
Further, the ASMP has identified Polonnaruwa district as an appropriate location to culture and to introduce new technology for ornamental fish. Similarly, Kandy, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa districts are identified to farm using new technology of fruits and vegetables.
Participants who attended the event also expressed their satisfaction as they able to gather broader knowledge on export procedure, international marketing, custom procedure, QMS certification mechanism, etc.
The ASMP conducted its first awareness program for Western and Southern Provinces in January in Battaramulla and the second awareness program was held in the Central Province in Kandy.
ASMP’s funding is a full grant awarded to entrepreneurs who were able to contribute and increase export revenue to the country as a result of many improvements achieved in their products and processes.
The ASMP has awarded a total of Rs. 4.8 billion to 769 prospective agriculturists (proponents), including clusters, to enhance their value chain developments in their outputs, processes under the 10 sectors up-to-date.
It is a World Bank funded project that started awarding grants in 2016/2017 and functioned under the Cabinet Ministry of Plantation Industries and Export Agriculture and State Ministry for Development of Minor Crops including Sugarcane, Maize, Cashew, Pepper, Cinnamon, Cloves, Beetle related Industries and Export Promotions.
The key objective of the establishment of ASMP is to facilitate and uplift Sri Lanka’s economy through agriculture sector with a view of value addition, entrepreneurship development and technology advancement.
The major sectors/sub-sectors considered for grants are horticulture, spices, other foods and non-alcoholic beverages, fisheries, aquaculture, coconut-non-kernel, coconut-kernel-based products, medicinal and aromatics, livestock, agriculture machinery and equipment solutions. As intended, through the grants, proponents representing these sectors are able to enhance value addition and also to introduce technology advancement in many ways, while developing entrepreneurship especially among young farmers. As we all know, the key factor behind the success in global market is the ‘quality’ — it is critical in all aspects, starting from beginning to the end of any process.
Customer/buyer satisfaction, exceeding their expectations, customer loyalty, and fair play in export marketing are key factors for sustainability in export marketing. In order to achieve such milestones, an exporter has to focus his/her business entity on value addition through application of new technologies and intend to be a ‘smart entrepreneur’ in the trade.
Smart entrepreneur is a business acumen who mostly ensure the ‘win-win’ situation for both the parties. This is a prime important factor for sustainability of export business. The top 10 agro-exporters in the world practice smart entrepreneur concept as they believe the concept is the one behind their success.
Therefore, the ASMP has identified quality and export as vital aspects for its all proponents and initiated to conduct a series of awareness programs on export procedure and QMS certification covering for all five regions which include; Western, Southern, Central, Eastern and Northern.
