Soya cultivation to be enhanced

Friday, 4 May 2012 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A special project to cultivate soya bean as an economic crop has been launched in the North Central Province. Under this project 25,000 acres will be cultivated with soya.

Officials of the North Central Provincial Council said that the aim of the project was to popularise soya cultivation in the region in addition to the paddy cultivation.

Sri Lanka needs 12 thousand metric tons of soya annually for the production of triposha and other food varieties. A large volume of this quantity is now being imported, at a cost of Rs. 10,000 million annually. In addition to this, Sri Lanka also imports soya oil.

The new project has been planned as a measure to curtail to these imports and save the foreign exchange is being spent since this is a product that can be cultivated locally.

The Provincial Council officials said that local seeds would be utilised for soya beans cultivation. They said the project will be started in the forthcoming Yala season and a kilo of soya harvest would be marketed at Rs. 70.