New US envoy Sison visits Cargills-USAID project in Kilinochchi

Monday, 1 October 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Michele Sison and Jim Bednar, Mission Director, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), recently visited the fruit and vegetable processing centre being constructed in Kilinochchi by Cargills (Ceylon) PLC.

The visit was part of a tour that saw a team of US diplomats and officials visiting USAID –supported projects in northern Sri Lanka.

USAID support to the Cargills-initiated Northern Horticultural Alliance Project (NHA project) is aimed at empowering the livelihoods of over 1,000 fruit and vegetable farmers as well as palmyra sap tappers and processors from the conflict-affected Northern Province.

Ambassador Sison and Bednar, along with a team of delegates, visited the fruit and vegetable processing facility being constructed in Kilinochchi.

Haridas Fernando, Deputy General Manager- Agribusiness for Cargills, said: “The facility would process an estimated 150 tons of fruit and vegetables per month procured from farmers in the region. Cargills aims to take its total fresh produce collection from the region to 250 tons per month. This processing centre would also support the Cargills Northern Palmyra Project by providing processing facilities for 100 palmyra tappers that we presently collect from.”

G. Samuel Neshakumar, Business Development Manager of Cargills for the Northern region, noted that the Cargills Collection centre in Allawedi, Jaffna, also an initiative under the NHA project, brings together the produce from 2,000 farmer families in 10 Grama Seva division, including Alaweddi, Chunnakkam, Massiyapitty, Illavalai and Thellipalai.

The project’s most recent agricultural innovation introducing new varieties of seedless sweet grape sapling to Jaffna farmers has also been well received and is likely to change the landscape of grape imports and income from grape cultivation.

The NHA project will also introduce passion fruit cultivation to the northern region, another first from this alliance between Cargills and USAID.