Take No Pain to Solve Your Problem by Yourself- Toll Free Service for Instant Solutions
This service is for providing solutions to agriculture related problems faced specially by farmers. You have to just call 1920 and connect with the service. There are well trained and specialized persons in different fields of Agriculture to provide necessary solutions at the centre.
The event was opened at the hands of minister (Agriculture Development), Hon. Chamal Rajapaksha at 10.00 a.m. on 23rd February at Audio Visual Centre. The live telecast of one hour program will be unfolded on your TV screen. As a special event, Hon. prime minister will call the first call to the "Govi Sahana Sarana" service on that special day. There are many programs to enjoy the event.
MESSAGE OF HON. CHAMAL RAJAPAKSE, MINISTER OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
One of the priorities of this government is becoming self sufficient in essential food commodities in order to realise the food and nutrition of its people. The prime movers of this task are the farmers, whose living standards have to be improved through economic development. To achieve this end, the agricultural development mechanism, so far tried without much success, has to be rethought. If agricultural production has to become a profit making enterprise, the basic resources of the farmers have to be efficiently managed. Then employment prospects in agriculture improve and become attractive to youth who will then take agriculture to a new future. Sri Lanka spends yearly about rupees 45,000 million on its food imports. The main idea is to reduce the foreign exchange spent on importing food that can well be grown locally.
The basis for scientific farming can be established by injecting new ideas and information to augment the already present traditional knowledge in farmers. The end result of the foregoing is the raising of productivity and improving the quality of the produce, which can be marketed as value added products, to earn high income for improved living standards.
When compared to other South Asian Countries, the main weakness faced by Sri Lanka's agriculture is its low productivity. One of the reasons for the low productivity is the weakening of the Extension Service over the last few years.
To remedy this shortcoming a large number of programmes aimed at providing the farmers with new technology and knowledge generated by local scientists are being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The "Govi Sahana Sarana", toll-free telephone service that is going to be declared open today, will be helpful in solving various problems faced by the farmers, such as technical and marketing problems and problems in obtaining seeds and planting materials. Any farmer can dial 1920 from any telephone in any part of the country and reach this centre and obtain what ever information desired. I am hopeful that this facility provided, free of charge, will suit the times and prove beneficial to the farmers.
The toll-free telephone facility will be a significant contribution to the "Gama Neguma" effort in the "Mahinda Chintanaya" and the "Kethata Aruna" programme of this Ministry.
I take this opportunity to thank the telephone service providers and Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka for the spontaneous response given to launch this 'Govi Sahana Sarana' toll facility.
Chamal Rajapaksa, Minister of Agricultural Development