Monday Oct 07, 2024
Monday Oct 07, 2024
Wednesday, 24 September 2014 01:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Chief Guest at the ceremony was Bio Foods Ltd. CEO and Former Vice Chancellor of the University of Pera-deniya and University of Vocational Technology Prof. Kapila Goonasekere while the Guest of Honor was UN FAO Repre-sentative Beth Crawford.
Speaking about the conference’s theme, Annual Conference Committee President-Elect and Chairman Athauda Jayawardena said that in order to overcome poverty and provide the poor with proper access to food, appropriate economic policies and affordable food were two major issues that had to be addressed.
“The role of the private sector is very important in agricultural sustainability and the private and public sector partnership is highly important,” Jayawardena remarked.
He added that water management, the availability of labour, advanced technology, recyclable materials, research intervention and prices in the agricultural sector were highly significant for sustainable agriculture. This year the conference will act as a platform for all stakeholders, policymakers, specialists and other participants to get an idea of the significance of sustainable agriculture and sustainable natural resource usage in agriculture to eradicate poverty and give the poor proper access to food.
Foreign and local experts from related fields including directors, professors and consultants in agriculture and biology, water management, economics and agriculture marketing will address key areas of the theme. University of Monash Professor of Economics Gamini Herath said that even if the CB report has declared the agriculture sector contribution to the GDP is on the decline in the country, the measurement is not suitable to decide that because it does factor in certain significant areas of the economy.
“The contribution of agriculture to the GDP has declined in all developing countries but the most significant thing is sustainable agricultural development,” Herath said.
He further stated that world cereal production needed to increase by 50% and meat by 65% from 2000 to 2030.
He described that a drop in the supply of agriculture products creates high demand and it creates a price hike.
He also emphasised that forest clearing and poor quality water resource management, like overusing tube wells, will harm agricultural sustainability in Sri Lanka.
The technical sessions of the conference, which will be held today at the Galadari Hotel, will consist of four sessions featuring presentations, discussions and debates in order to formulate viable recommendations. At the end of the presentations and technical sessions, the OPA will conduct a panel discussion to clarify any points before preparing a report on the recommendations which will be presented to the Government.
Pix by Shehan Gunasekara
