Dr C. Kudagamage
Director General of Agriculture

Dr. Chandrasiri Kudagamage received his first degree in Agriculture from University of Peradeniya in 1972 and received M.Sc. and PhD degrees from Purdue University, U.S.A. in 1980 and 1987 respectively. He joined the Department of Agriculture as a Research Officer in 1974 and served as a Rice Breeder and Entomologist at the Rice Research Institute at Batalagoda. During his stay at Batalagoda he was actively engaged in research programmes related to breeding rice for resistance to major insect pests and he was instrumental in breeding the 1st brown plant hopper resistant rice variety, together with other breeders. In 1988 he was transferred to the Central Agricultural Research Institute, Gannoruwa as the Head of Entomology Division. Dr. Kudagamage served in this position until 1994 and during that period he was involved in planning and implementation of horticultural and rice entomology research programmes and also undertook research on Neem to develop an environmentally friendly insecticide.

As a result of his dedication to these duties Dr. Kudagamage was promoted as the Director of the Horticultural Crop Research and Development Institute (HORDI) in 1999 and during his tenure as the Director, HORDI and he was instrumental in initiating a programme for characterization, conservation and utilization of under-utilized fruit crops in the country. Finally, he reached the final destination of his carrier path and became the Director General of Agriculture in April 2005. At present, he is the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Agriculture and is responsible for agricultural research and development of the whole country. He is also responsible for overall policy and strategy development pertaining to improving the production and productivity of food crops in order to ensure the food and nutritional security of the country.

In recognition of his yeoman services in the field of agriculture and also the vast contribution he made to the national development, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka honored him with the Degree of Doctor of Science.

In appreciation of the invaluable contribution of Dr. Kudagamage, he was honored by the President’s award for scientific achievement for breeding high yielding pest resistant varieties of rice in 1981/1982, National award for agriculture research achievement for the development of Integrated Pest Management technologies for major rice pests in Sri Lanka in 1988 and Ceres award presented by the FAO for outstanding contribution to rice research in 1980.

Selected Publications and Technical Presentations

Research Papers

1. Kudagamage C and L Nugaliyadde 1982. Laboratory and field investigations of brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens resistance in rice verities. Trop. Agric. 138. 149-159.
2. Kudagamage, C. J.E. Foster and J.E. Araya. 1987. A recapitulation of the genetic and evolution of insect biotypes on cereals: the case study of the Hessian fly. Journ. National Con. Sri Lanka. 15 (2): 237 – 248
3. C. Kudagamage, H. Mangalika and C.A. Sandanayake. 1989. Yield losses due to rice gall midge. IRRN. 13(6): 39
4. Kudagamage, C and D.L.A. Gunawardhana. 1989. Rice varietal reaction to a new gall-midge biotype in Sri Lanka. Tropical Agriculturist 145:129-131
5. Bandara, K.N.P. and C. Kudagamage. 1989 Potential of chitin inhibitors and the botanical insecticide for the control of cabbage caterpillars. Trop. Agric. 145: 125-127.
6. Kudagamage, C. R.M.Ranasinghe, R.M.G. Bandara, W.M.S.G. Weerasekera, and E.P.L.N. Pinnaduwage. 1989. Effective ness of natural enemies of rice pests in IPM and non-IPM fields in Sri Lanka. Krushi 14:(2-4)21-28
7. Kudagamage, C., J.E. Foster, B.H. Chen. 1990. Biotypes of the Hessianfly identified in the south eastern United States. J. Entomol. Sci. 25(4): 575-580
8. Chen, B.H., J.E. Foster, P.L. Tayler, J.E. Araya and C. Kudagamage 1990. Determination of frequency and distribution of Hessianfly biotypes in the North-eastern soft wheat region. The Great Lakes Entomologist 23(4): 217-221.
9. Wijesekera, G.A.W. and Kudagamage C. 1990. Life History and Control of ‘Spiraling’ White fly, aleurodicus disperses (Homoptera:Aleyrodidae):Fast Spreading pest in Sri Lanka. Quart. Newsletter Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission 33 (2):22-25.
10. Kobayashi, M., L. Nugaliyadda, C. Kudagamage. 1990. Natural enemies of the rice gall-midge observed in the yala season in Sri Lanka JARQ 23(4): 323-328
11. Siva subramanium, W., Kudagamage, C. and Wijegunasekara, H.N.P., 1991. Toxicity and mode of action of Neem, Azadirachta indica formulation on rice, brown plant hopper Nilaparvata lugens. Tropical Agric. Res. 3: 216-225.
12. Kobayashi M, C Kudagamage and L Nugaliyadde 1991. Hymenopterous parasitoids of the Rice Gall Midge, Orseolia oryzae (Wood- Mason) in the early maha season in Sri Lanka. JARC, 29: 89-93.
13. Kobayashi M, C Kudagamage and L Nugaliyadde 1995. Distribution of larvae of Ophionea indica (carabidae), a predator of the Rice Gall Midge, Orseolia oryzae (Wood- Mason) in paddy fields of Sri Lanka. JARC, 29: 89-93
14. Kudagamage,C. 1995. Neem as an insecticide : Potentials and problems. Krushi 15. 19-25
15. Kudagamage, C. R.S. Munasinghe, Rohan Rajapaksa and Disna Chandrasekera. 1996. Potentials of Paciolomyces fumosorroseus in the control of cabgage caterpillars. Tropical Agriculturist 151: 59-62
16. Kudagamage, C., H.L. Z. Rajapaksa ,R.H.S. Rajapaksa and D. Ratnasekera. 2001. The population dynamics and insecticidal control of 3 Leafhoppers, Amritodus brevistylus, Idioscopus niveosparus and Idioscopus clepealis in Mango. J. Ent. Res. 25(2) 121-125.
17. Kudagamage,C, G.W.J.Chandrasiri and A.M.Z. Razmy. 2002. Analysis of long term trends in banana sector of Sri lanka. Annals of the Sri Lanka Department of Agriculture 4:21-32
18. Kudagamage, C., K.N.P. Bandara and D.S. Mudalege. 2002. Effects of crop bio-diversity and pesticides on cabbage pests. In . Proceedings of International conference on vegetables Nov 11-14 2002, Banglore, India. CD ROM publication pp359-363

Book Chapters

19. Kudagamage C. 1990. Status and Management of Vegetable Pest in Sri Lanka. In pp. 84-90 Status and management of major vegetable pests in the Asia Pacific Region RAPA Publication 1990/3.
20. Kudagamage, C., H.B. Senerath and M.H.J.P. Fernando. 1992. National Integrated Pest Management Programme in Sri Lanka. In pp.163-180 Integrated Pest Management in the Asia Pacific Region (Editors: P.A.C. Ooi, G.S. Lim, T.H. Ho, PL Manalo and J. Waage) CAB International and Asian Development Bank 459 pp.
21. Kudagamage, C. and L. Nugaliyadda 1995. Present status and future direction of insect pest management in rice. In Amarasiri, S.L.S Nagaraja,. and B.M.K Perera.(Eds) Rice Congress 1990 P39-54 . Proceedings of a symposium, 3-4 Sep. 1990, Kandy, Sri Lanka. Department of Agriculture, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 1995, 226 p.
22. Kudagamage, C. 2001. Present Status and future directions of pest management in food crops. In R.H.S. Rajapakse and D. Rathnasekera. (Eds.) Seminar on pest control in the next millennium pp 1-20.Published by Faculty of agriculture, University of Ruhuna ,Mapalana Kaburupitiya
23. Kudagamage, C. 2002. Present Status of banana cultivation in Sri Lanka. . In A.B. Molina, J. E. Eusebio, V.N. Rao, I. Vanden Berge, MAG Maghuyop (Eds )Advancing banana and Plantain Research and Development in Asia and Pacific 11:139-147 P 231.
24. Kudagamage C., S. Abeysiriwardena, H. Samaratunga and W.D.L. Gunaratne 2004. Human Resources Management for the development of the Agriculture Research Sector. An overview in HPM Gunasena and M.B. Sakala Sooriya (Eds) Enhancing Agriculture Research in Sri Lanka. Proceedings of a Workshop organized by Sri Lanka Council for Agricultural Research Policy and National Agriculture Society of Sri Lanka.
25. Kudagamage, C. 2004. Present Status of Research on Underutilized Fruit Trees at Horticultural Crop Research and Development Institute In Gunasena, HPM and Pushpakumara DkNG (Eds). Recent development in research on Underutilized Fruits Trees CARP-ICRAF Tree Domestication Project, CARP, 114/9, Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka.
26. Kudagamage, C. 2005. Role of non-pesticidal control methods in IPM of insect pests of food crops: Status and prospects. In Gunasena H.P.M. and Chandra Padmini, S.M.P. (Eds.) Biological Pest Control, CARP 114/9, Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 7

Manuals and Books

1. C. Kudagmage. 1994. Neem as an Insecticide. Department of Agriculture Publication. Pp: 12. (in Sinhala).
2. C. Kudagamage and D. Rathnasekera. 1997. Pest and Diseases of Cucurbitaceae. Department of Agriculture publication. pp:12. (in Sinhala).
3. C. Kudagamage, I.J.de Zoysa and H.M.R.K. Ekanayake. Pests and Diseases of Ornamental Plants. 1998, pp:49.
4. C. Kudagamage, I. J. de Zoysa and P. Inoka,. 2002. Identification and Management of pests and diseases of Low Country Vegetables, pp: 128

Editorial Work

1. C. Kudagamage and S. Nagarajah. ASDA 1999. Proceedings of Annual Symposium of Department of Agriculture. Volume1. Sri Lanka Department of Agriculture publication 434 pp.

2. C. Kudagamage, B.M.K.Perera and K. Kunagoda. 2004. New technologies for Agriculture Development, Proceedings of seminar of presentation on foreign training of officers of Department of Agriculture (In press