Title - Establishment of a National Agricultural Information Centre (Agro -Technology Park)

Submitting Agency & Project Executing Organization- Department of Agriculture (DOA), Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Purpose of the project

• Quick information dissemination mechanism for farmers, School children and General public.
• A place to see and learn latest recommendations of crop cultivation and technologies generated by both public (government departments and universities) and private institutions.
• A place to see and study traditional/heritage agriculture systems and future hi-tech agriculture.
• Education & training mechanism for village level extension workers as face to face training of widely dispersed large number is practically impossible task (approximately 10,000 government officers)
• Strengthening the present research and development activities of Gannoruwa agriculture complex.
• Information network among agriculture officers, Govijana Kendra, agriculture institutes, both public and private.
• Aesthetically beautiful landscaping with tropical crops.
• A site for Eco-tourism/Agro-tourism.
• To prevent the loosing Gannoruwa Agricultural Complex due to non agricultural projects.
• Generation of funds within the system for its sustainability (Not a burden for the government).
• Sales centre for plants, seeds and other products of government institutions and the private sector entrepreneurs.

Map- Agriculture Technology Complex (Printable version)

Main element of the Agricultural technology park

Venue
This site will be established in Gannoruwa where majority of agricultural related institutions are located. Since the working committee of the proposed project consists of representatives from following units, this place is ideal for efficient management.

Agricultural related departments and other units around Peradeniya who are in the working committee.

• Head office of the DOA, Horticulture Research and Development Institute, Plant Genetic Resources Centre, Food Technology Research Unit, In-service Training Institute, Seed Certification Service, Plant Protection Service, Office of the Registrar of Pesticides, Royal Botanic Gardens and the Audio Visual Centre (administration unit of the proposed technology park )
• Head office of Department of Export Agriculture (DEA) in Peradeniya and the DEA research station, training centre and sales centre in Matale (15 miles from Peradeniya).
• Head office of Animal Production and Health, Research Station, Veterinary Research Institute and Central Training Centre of the Department of Animal Production and Health (AP & H).
• Faculty of Agriculture and Post Graduate Institute of Agriculture of the University of Peradeniya.

This location has another advantage owing to the easy access to Kandy from all over the island and the already established infrastructure for visitors to Kandy.

The project will enhance research and training environment with least disturbance to officers and their normal work.

Varieties and technologies recommended by the Department of Agriculture for all crops will be demonstrated in the field in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
Areas will be demarcated for paddy, vegetable, fruits, root crops, dry zone crops (other field crops) and floriculture. Instructors of each section will provide necessary information for viewers. Self - explanatory instructional display boards will be provided for each demonstration.

The relevant research officer's/agricultural officer's name, address, telephone, fax email etc. will be written on each display board for further clarification of the demonstration. In addition, important information/highlights of each demonstration will be presented in a printed folder and sold for a nominal fee in each section of the garden.

Rice section
In this section following technical sections will be demonstrated.

• Rice varietal development in Sri Lanka (traditional, introduction, old improved, New improved, hybrids)
• Steps in rice variety development, and how to release a variety for general cultivation (hybridization, selection, yield trials, CRVT, VAT/DUST, LSVAT, commercial variety).
• Small plot demonstration for popular rice varieties (3, 3 ½, 4-4 ½, 5-6 age classes)
• Different growth stages- Nursery- Planting-Vegetative-Reproductive- Harvesting (crop will be arranged to be seen year around).
• A demonstration to show factors contributing to high yielding (proper land preparation, quality seeds, time of cultivation, use of fertilizer, pest and disease management).
• Correct diagnosis of field problems (pest and diseases, deficiency systems).
• Identification of common rice weeds and control methods.
• Development of hybrid rice technology.
• Grain quality and post harvest technology

Vegetable garden
Establishment of recommended vegetable varieties cultivation, demonstration of imported hybrid vegetable varieties, demonstration of recommended agronomic practices, spacing, training and pruning, fertilizing, pest and disease management, establishment of vegetable seed production blocks, vegetables in protected environment (soilless culture, hydroponics etc), demonstration of micro irrigation systems

Roots and Tuber garden.

Leafy vegetable garden
DOA recommended varieties and heritage leafy vegetables will be laid on a ¼ ac Sri Lanka map.

Citrus garden
All recommended (sweet orange, Calamancy, Thahiti, grapefruit, mandarin, pumello etc) and heritage citrus (rough lemon, Heen- naran , nattaran etc ) will be established.

Banana garden
Germplasm collection of banana, banana propagation techniques, Production techniques of high quality suckers, various system of field planting, Banana clump management, pest management, mulching, different systems of bunch covering.

Under utilized fruit garden
All the under utilized fruit crops will be planted in this area.

Jack fruit garden
Existing germplasm collection of jackfruits will be improved to a presentable form.

Dry zone crops (other field crops)
DOA recommended varieties of chilies, red and big onions, coarse grains, oil seed crops, grain legumes will be established.

Exhibition stalls or main crop categories
Permanent exhibition stalls will be provided for each of the above discipline to exhibit messages that cannot be demonstrated in the field. Preserved pest and disease samples will be exhibited. Each exhibition stall will be provided with a seminar room with multimedia projection system.

Nursery for demonstrations and sales
A fully functional model nursery will be established. Visitors can observe all the nursery techniques, budding and grafting etc. during a specific time of the day. Nursery plants produced in this section will be sold at the sales centre.

A professional tissue culture lab and a localized tissue culture lab will be introduced to boost the planting material production of the nursery and to demonstrate the technology.

Mushroom house
A mushroom production unit will be established with sales facility for mushroom seeds, fresh and dried mushroom etc. Regular demonstrations will be staged for skill development in mushroom cultivation.

Food technology demonstration
A food technology section with regular demonstrations will be introduced to the park. Prospective entrepreneurs will get information of processing methodology, their post-processing handling procedure, shelf life and expiry date, bacteriological sanitation and information of mass balance in processing.
A mini fruit canning/bottling unit will also be established.

Floriculture demonstrations and sales area for private sector
This area will be a flower garden consists of flowers/ foliage with economical value rather than a Botanical garden concept in Sri Lanka. Tropical wild flower industry will be a future export earning venture. Therefore a wild flower demonstration in a typical tropical forest setting will be exhibited. An educational exhibition stall will be introduced to demonstrate technology related to floriculture industry (Cut flower and foliage). A cluster of sales centres will be given for private entrepreneurs (phase 2). A special floriculture sales activity will be introduced in even Sunday (Floriculture show).

The entire park will be landscaped with vegetables, instead of flowers to add aesthetic beauty to the environment.

A site to demonstrate traditional /indigenous agriculture in Sri Lanka

Demonstration of traditional tank (wawa) culture
Wawa and related surrounding elements will be demonstrated with special reference to traditional cultural and social values of ancient agricultural village system in Sri Lanka. Various ancient and latest storage structures will be constructed at the traditional threshing flow in the center of the gamgoda. A scientific cultural and social factors related to kamatha, malu kamatha will be demonstrated.

Gamgoda

Traditional chena
A site will be developed to a traditional chena. Advantages and disadvantages of chena will be demonstrated. All the elements of the chena will be explained.

Stabilized chena
Chena farming has become a non-sustainable system of agriculture in Sri Lanka with the increase of population pressure on land. Therefore, research attention concentrated to develop and introduce a new system of farming system namely stabilized chena as an alternative for traditional chena. On farm and off farm soil conservation, water harvesting, water conservation methods, land preparation methods, planting methods will be demonstrated in this area.

Heritage crop museum
Heritage crops will be demonstrated depicting nutritional, genetic and medicinal value of each crop.

Indigenous rice garden
Traditional rice cultivation with all traditional rice varieties will be exhibited. Indigenous pest control methods also will be demonstrated.

Agricultural museum
The entire park will be a crop museum consists of all the food crops, fruits and heritage crops. In-addition, traditional tools, equipments, historical evidences will be demonstrated in each section of the park. Evolution of rice in the world as well as in Sri Lanka will be depicted in the rice section of the park.

Indigenous Aqua culture section
In this section a natural water stream will be established with 70 species of indigenous fresh water fish. Some of the fresh water fish will be presented in a pond with a side glass to view fish. This presentation will be an ideal opportunity to study various fish and their natural habitat and breeding systems. This section will be managed by the Faculty of Agriculture, University Peradeniya.

Organic Agriculture
An area will be allocated for organic agriculture production. The main elements of this section consist of sheds for farm animals, link of animal sheds to composing grounds and bio gas units, different compost units, a bio gas unit, wormi- wash unit, pasture area, medicinal corner, information hut, section on traditional/indigenous farming towards biodynamic farming, organic vegetable section, no tillage section, perma-culture section, organic fruit section etc.
This area will be managed by the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya.

A site to demonstrate future high tech. in Agriculture

DOA recommended Hi-tech agriculture
Demonstration of high tech agriculture such as protected agriculture, hydroponics, modern irrigation systems, fertigation etc will be demonstrated. Some of the prospective future research also will be demonstrated in a separate section (research not recommended yet). A video on high tech agriculture in the world will be presented with modern video projection system.

Private sector agricultural mall
An area will be given for private companies to demonstrate agriculture tools, equipment, hybrid seeds, irrigation devices etc. In-addition to field demonstration area, the mall enables the private sector to introduce and sell their productions.

Modern home garden
An area to depict animal-crop integration and a typical present day house with energy saving strategies, landscaping with potted plants, dwarf fruits, a hobby tunnel, hydrophonic garden etc. will be established. Home gardens of adjoining villages will be developed to show variety of home garden models. These houses will be a part of the exhibition site.

Area for students for discovery learning

Pest show / Plant protection show (Insect zoo)
An area will be devoted for school children for discovery learning in Agriculture. This will be a demonstration of faunal composition of agriculture eco system. A live insect collection will be exhibited in cages for observation of insect life cycle and mode of damage to plants. Insect boxes, weed albums, preserved disease leaves will be sold by private entrepreneurs in this section. Insect preserving techniques will be demonstrated for school children.

Bee-keeping
A bee keeping area will be demarcated with glass mounted bee boxes to study bee hives. A special bee hive exhibition with different kind of beehives (hives in trees, clay pots, logs etc) will be exhibited (similar to Royal bee exhibition in UK). Honey extraction collection of bee colonies from jungle and other activities will be demonstrated at regular intervals.

Agriculture in Sri Lanka - A model
A huge model (at least 1/4 Ac,) of the Sri Lanka map will be laid on the floor in a special gallery with miniature models to depict irrigation schemes, tanks, topography, different crops and cropping systems of the entire island, DOA research stations, training centres, sales centres and farms, important wholesale markets etc. Different soil found in Sri Lanka will be laid on this map to depict live soil map of Sri Lanka. People can walk on the map along miniature roads.

Extents of crops and yield forecast for the current cultivation season in all districts will be given. The whole map will enable farmers and students to visualize the current status of agriculture.

Meteorology
Sections for methodology, soil and water engineering (principle of wells, water cycle etc) will be introduced to this students section. An underground soil profile tour will be designed. People can walk and explore root systems and different soil layers up to parent rock and ground water table.

Computer assistant discovery learning
Computer assisted discovery learning related to agriculture knowledge also will be provided. Students can learn agriculture subjects on their own in this section.

Rice garden
A rice garden concept will be introduced with small plots showing various stages of rice cultivation throughout the year, so that students will be able to study growth stages of rice plant as well as different cultural practices at any time of the year.

Seed show
A exhibition gallery will be introduced to show seed related technology. Seed certification process will be demonstrated in the field. Ideal plant type for each crop will be presented.

Plant genetic resources
Wild varieties and other genetic variability of various crops will be demonstrated in this area. Jack bean, sword bean, hyacinth bean, yam bean.

Animal production and Health

Animal husbandry section with dairy, piggary, poultry, goats, rabbits etc will be introduced. Different housing for above animals, machine milking, yoghurt production etc will be demonstrated. Different breeds of above animals will be exhibited. Use of wild animals (wild boar, deer, watu kurullo etc.) for meat production will be demonstrated. This area will be managed by the faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya.

Pasture demonstration
Area will be allocated for pasture/fodder management.

Animal Hospital
An animal maternity room and Animal Hospital will be some of the major attractions.

Export agriculture crops-spice garden

Different spices and relevant technologies will be demonstrated in collaboration with the Department of Export Agriculture. A spice nursery will be established with a sales outlet.

A special section will demonstrate post harvest technologies of spices.

A video film on spice history processing technology etc. will be screened in a video theater. A canopy walking track (bridge) will be constructed in this section and fruit tree section to enable viewers to examine beautiful tropical vegetation while walking in the canopies.

Sales Centre

Entrepreneurs sales
An area for entrepreneurs to sell their products (such as soya products, mushroom products, canned food, preserved food, horticultural plants, vegetable seedlings for home garden, hydroponics & poly tunnel vegetables, organic fertilizer etc.) will be demarcated. Bee colonies, bee boxes, bee honey and other bee keeping tools will be available for sale.

DOA sales
Sales centres to sell agricultural publications, video cassettes, CD-ROMs, etc. will be incorporated in-addition to plant sales.

Souvenir shop
A souvenir shop also will be introduced to this sales complex.

Vegetable and meat stalls
Sales for vegetables, fruits, meat products of DOA farms. Self serviced fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy products will be sold in a separate section similar to supermarket vegetable/fruit stalls usually seen in western countries.
DOA sales centre will be established close to the main road, so that people who visit the garden can buy anything they want, on the way back to home. Even people who don't visit the park can also buy farm fresh agricultural products without entering the park.

Information Centre

Information desk
An information desk will be established with regular staff to provide information and advise to public. Live connection via telephone/email etc to researchers/Agriculturists will be provided for instant solutions and advice (video conferences). A representative from AgEdis (Agriculture Enterprise development) will be made available for people who need assistance for agriculture related enterprises. Written information will be provided for a nominal fee. People will be able to get required information without entering the park.

Cyber cafe
A central web site with massive capacity of server will be maintained by the above science park with necessary links with peripheral agriculture centres.
These peripheral units will maintain their own web sites with regular updating mechanism. A separate section will be opened for public for information seeking through web.
This will be a "Cyber café" for general public in the area and people who visit the garden. Necessary hardware and software will be provided by the project or promote provincial administration to provide their sub units with necessary information retrieval facility.
A regular updating mechanism with DOA massive knowledge pool will be done in this section. A panel consisting of Agriculture professionals from the University sector and government department will be available at the cyber café, to provide necessary technical and education information for the general public.

Plant clinic and soil testing
Farmers will be able to get their soil tested and plants analyzed. The necessary report and crop recommendations could be obtained on the same day. Farmers also can bring their specimens for examination.

Food court
An area will be demarcated for a food court to serve various food. An area close to Wawa will be demarcated for this purpose. Traditional "Gamgoda" houses will be constructed in this area. One of these stalls will serve new food recipes (variety of rice, Kehelmuwa curry, embaralla leaf sambol, mushroom soup, soya sweet and sour deviled, soya curry, nelum ala curry, bell pepper salads, mushroom salad, fried kankun, tur dhal curry etc). A traditional 'bath kade' (a small hotel) with traditional meals such as jack fruit curry, brinjal curry, karola hodi, coconut sambol, gotukola sambol served on banana leaf/Nelum kola. Oil cake and other Sri Lankan traditional sweets also will be introduced to this food court. Organic drinks (such as fruit drinks, sugar cane drink, mandarin juice, Kamaranga (star fruit) drink, avocado drink) avocado sandwiches, soya ice cream, pop corn, soya sandwiches, sweet potato doughnut, sweet potato and manioc deviled, boiled manioc with katta sambol, dehydrated fruits etc will be served all over the park. No other artificial beverages will be permitted in the park.

Resting areas
The whole park is a place for families to spend the day. Park is designed for families wanting to relax and smell the agricultural garden. The entire park will be transformed into a pleasant oasis of greening for families, tourists and all sorts of park goers.
The bare grounds will be constantly kept trimmed and cleaned so it will make a good picnic grounds for families. It has something for farmers, the health conscious, the family oriented, the culture vultures, the restaurant habities, the plant lovers, educators and students. Roads, water ways, car parks, summer houses, toilets and other necessary infrastructure development work will be established.

Educational entertaining events

A theatre for 30 min. Agriculture drama
A theatre will be incorporated to the park to show 30min. drama (comedy form), related to current issues, field problems etc. A contract will be given to a professional artist to direct the drama with permanently employed cast for the project. This drama will be staged at regular intervals.

30 min. cultural show
A multimedia presentation with traditional Sri Lankan agricultural fork music and dances, stage back grounds, video back projection etc. will be performed in another arena (open air theater) to depict the rich agricultural and cultural heritage of Sri Lanka. Tamil, English, German and French translation of the dramas can be heard through a special multi linguistic earphone system.

Multimedia film theatre
A 2D/3D film will be screened in a separate theatre with simulations pertaining to current Agriculture. (eg. IPM film with insect animations,
soil-water-fertilizer drama, A 3D bee colony) 3D glasses will be provided for each viewer to watch this 3D film. This will be a first 3D film theater in Sri Lanka.

World Agriculture show
An exhibition stall (World Agriculture) will be established to present agriculture in various countries, ranging from tropical to temperate. Agricultural authorities of these selected countries will be requested to establish their stalls.

Agricultural museum
An agricultural museum will be established with all the modern museum technologies in the world. This museum will consist of sequence of wax models (similar to models found in 'Madam tushard', London) with simulations and audio visual presentations in an exhibition gallery.

Children park
A children park with various adventure activities will be incorporated to the section of the existing fruit orchard.