Rs. 105 million to develop poultry industry and fisheries

Cabinet has approved Rs.90 million for development of small and medium scale poultry farming.

On a proposal made by Minister of Livestock and Rural Community Development Arumugan Thondaman, Cabinet has decided to allocate Rs.90 million to provide self-employment assistance to small and medium scale poultry farmers in order to make the industry self-sufficient in 2016.

The contribution by the poultry sector for the development of livestock sector is around 70 per cent and the industry has around 70,000 poultry farmers.

At present an average of 10,000 MT of chicken meat and 100 million eggs are produced.

The monthly and per capita availability is 6kg.  The target for 2016 to be self-sufficient in the industry is the production of 18,000 MT of chicken meat and 280 million eggs per month.

In order to achieve this target it was decided that this programme should be implemented in collaboration with the ‘Divi Neguma’ programme launched by the Ministry of Economic Development to provide the facilities along with 50 per cent capital investment grant.

This will introduce self-employment opportunities and establish 4,500 new small scale poultry farms, establish 75 mini hatcheries, establish 100 mini processing units, expand cold storage facilities, introduce 100 mobile sales units and provide training facilities on poultry farming and disease control, to poultry farmers and officers.

Meanwhile, Cabinet has also decided to increase the profitability of the Lunuwila and Weerawila fishnet factories.

On a proposal made by Minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Douglas Devananda, Cabinet decided to increase the production capacity of Northsea Ltd. to 80% with funds amounting Rs. 15 million to be obtained through a bank loan.

The capacity utilisation of the Fishnet factories at Lunuwila and Weerawila of Northsea has been 40 per cent in the past and it has been decided to increase its capacity up to 80 per cent with the new funds.

Cabinet decided to provide guarantee through the Treasury to obtain the required funds from a bank.