COLOMBO, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday launched the national food production program aimed at preventing a food shortage in the future.
With nearly 1.9 million people facing a severe drought in the island country and many agricultural lands were destroyed by floods earlier this year, Sirisena said the food program was launched to encourage food cultivation in unused lands and revive the agricultural sector.
Many programs will be launched across the country while Oct. 6 to Oct. 12 has been declared as the National Food Production Week.
The government is expected to cultivate lands and take steps to encourage those who are cultivating. Legal actions will be taken against those who do not cultivate on their unused lands as the initiative is considered as a humanitarian operation to eliminate poverty from the country.
The program will also see many initiatives to promote home gardening, tree planting, prevention of food wastage and promotion of toxin-free food production.
Meanwhile, Sirisena said immediate steps will be taken to stop importing unhealthy food items as well as non-essential food items into the country.
He said more than 25 billion Sri Lankan rupees was spent annually to import essential food items into the country and it is essential that Sri Lanka produces its own food required for consumption.
He pointed out that self-sufficiency in food is the identity and the culture of Sri Lanka for the past thousands of years and it should be protected.
He also said it is important that the country gives value to local products if it is to help the agriculture economy as well as the national economy.
