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Wednesday, 8 July 2015 00:32 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Korea Project on International Agriculture (KOPIA) Centre Director Dr. Byoung Choon Jang will deliver lectures for farmers on high quality rice production and improvement of mushroom production technologies during the livelihood development workshop from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Shalika Hall in Dehiattakandiya on 9 July and at Hardy Technical College in Ampara on 10 July, respectively. The lectures are expected to introduce Korean technology which can contribute to the agricultural sector development in Sri Lanka. Dr. Jang is invited as chief guest on these workshops by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Dr. Anoma Gamage. Dr. Gamage expects to disseminate the suitable cultivation technology to Sri Lankan farmers through these workshops.
KOPIA Centre is established by the Rural Development Administration (RDA) of the Republic of Korea in order to cooperate in the development of agricultural technology in Sri Lanka.
By Waruni Paranagamage
The Ministry of Agriculture will collaborate with South Korean-based company KC Alliance to introduce instant rice flour noodles to the local and international market instead of imported instant noodles to create a poison-free and healthy generation.
The MoU for the project was signed recently by Agriculture Minister Duminda Dissanayake and KC Alliance Chairman James Kim at the Agriculture Ministry. According to ministry officials, the project cost an estimated $ 10 million and 51% of this expenditure will be covered by the Ministry of Agriculture while the remaining 49% will be provided by KC Alliance. However, officials said that further discussions were being conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture with the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BoI) and KC Alliance to speed up the project’s implementation.
The project aims at capturing local and international buyers who seek to infuse Sri Lanka’s signature spicy taste into their instant noodles along with nutritious ingredients from local rice varieties.
200 local paddy varieties out of the 205 available in the country will be used to produce the instant noodles with Korean recipes. The product will be introduced in 200 different flavours at a fair price.
Officials said that high quality paddy would be purchased from local farmers at a fair price and only permitted oil and flavours would be added to the noodles.
Furthermore, 90% of the finished product will be exported to the Asian market, from which 60% will go to South Korea.
