Hon. P Harrison, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock development, Irrigation and fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development, His Excellency the Ambassador for Republic of Korea, Director /RDA, Delegation from Rural Development Administration of Korea, respected delegates from Indonesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and host county Sri Lanka,invited guests, ladies and gentleman,

I am honored and privileged to address you at this important meeting in this beautiful setting at Pegasus Reef Hotel. 

Let me express my heartfelt appreciation for inviting me for this august gathering when the time you are going to have the high-level meeting of KORRA countries in Sri Lanka.  

Sri Lanka has a rich agricultural history dating back more than 2500 years. During the ancient days’ agriculture was practiced mainly to look after the household food security. This practice changed gradually with time converting this sector as a way of employment to look after the livelihood of the rural community. 

At present nearly 27% of the population is directly engaged in agriculture for their livelihood. 

Agriculture production in Sri Lankan is seasonal in nature and mainly based on the monsoonal weather pattern. Based on the rainfall, elevation, type of soil and terrain, Sri Lanka has been categorizedto 46 agro-ecological regions especially for agricultural purpose and crops are grown based on the favorable conditions especially the water availability in the particular agro ecological setting. Knowing the climate variability, our farsighted leaders have built irrigation tanks, Dams and anicuts in the dry and intermediate zones of Sri Lanka to support the Dry Zone agriculture.  Now Sri Lanka is blessed with over 14,000 minor tanks and 74 major tanks. 

For centuries, rice cultivation in the island nation was not just an economic activity but a way of life that shaped the society, culture, religion and economy. With the present-day consumption pattern, the demand for rice is around 2.4 million tons per annum, which is produced in the country. This has been achieved by the increased productivity throughutilization of improved technology, varietal improvementand by increasing the extent under production where ever possible.