Accelerated Palmyrah development work

Accelerated Palmyrah development work
Under Mahinda Chintana program:

Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Minister Douglas Devananda said that the Government's 10-year Mahinda Chintana development framework has identified the Palmyrah sector as a livelihood support and poverty reduction source and that the Palmyrah sector development work has been accelerated.

On Minister Devananda's instructions the Ministry's Secretary V Sivagnanasothy conducted a progress review meeting on September 14 to review the accelerated development program and its progress. The meeting addressed many concerns which are discussed below.

Enhancing Palmyrah plantation
With regard to Palmyrah plantation, it is reported that currently 24.260 hectares equivalent with 11 million palms are available of which 3.5 million trees are in Jaffna, 3.5 million in Kilinochchi, three million in Mannar and balance scattered all over the country. Government's Mahinda Chintana 10-year plan aims to increase the current level of palms from 11 million to 16 million by 2016. Among the strategies proposed includes organizing community based awareness to reduce the felling of palmyrah trees, developing private nurseries and allowing for replanting or new planting through community participation, has been identified as a production enhancement policy. The Mahinda Chintana - Vision for the Future strongly emphasises on the need to promote palmyrah based products such as fruits, fibre, leaf, timber, and rubber to be popularized through promotional mechanism.

The Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Ministry has drawn the attention of the District and Divisional Authorities to strictly implement the Gazette Notification to prevent the cutting of palmyrah trees. Permission for cutting palmyrah trees is granted through the Divisional Secretariat in close consultation with the Palmyrah Development Board.

The Ministry has taken action to prevent the cutting of Palmyrah trees for various requirements. In this regard, attention of District Secretaries, and Divisional Secretaries have been drawn on the Gazette Notification issued in 1993 by Agriculture Development and Research Ministry.

Model farm
The Board has also planned to invest in improving three model farms in Vavuniya (50 acres), Hambantota (22 acres) and Jaffna (50 acres) with new planting, replanting, spacing and intercropping.

Handicraft training under the Pubudamu Wellassa program coupled with the Deyata Kirula program in Madula, Moneragala action has been taken to undertake new planting and replanting of Palmyrah seeds. The planned seed planting is 100,000 by end of December 2010.

Moreover, the six months handicraft training program has also been successfully completed in Moneragala. In Moneragala over 50 families have undergone six months handicraft training and they have received certificates. They are currently producing handicraft products and these products have an assured market as they are purchased by Palmyrah Development Board.

With regard to the handicraft training program, action has been taken to conduct handicraft training in 10 Districts covering more than 250 participants. This six months handicraft training empowers many unemployed women, vulnerables and youth with skills and supports self employment and livelihood opportunities.

Kaithady Research Institution
Ministry Secretary Sivagnanasothy informed that the Kaithady Research Institution in Jaffna which was affected severely due to the war situation is to be re-established and re-activated on the initiative of Minister Devananda. The Indian Government has agreed to provide equipments worth Rs 80 million under its Small


Women making Palmyrah handicraft

Grant Assistance Program. In this regard the Finance and Planning Ministry's External Resources Department is closely co-ordinating with the Indian Government. In this regard the Steering Committee representing the Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Ministry and the Indian Government has been appointed to guide and direct this initiatives.

Handicraft training
Handicraft training has been initiated by the Palmyrah Development Board targeting the low income groups, vulnerable including widows, unemployed, displaced and war affected families. A six months training program is organized by the Palmyrah Development Board and materials are provided free of charge to the trainees.

At the end of six months training the trainees will be empowered as full fledged handicraftsmen who can produce good quality products for the market. Although the Palmyrah Development Board planned to conduct 10 programs in 2010 targeting 250 families with the participation and collaborations with Non Governmental Organizations, they will be able to undertake 22 such Handicraft Training Programs covering more than 500 families.

Capital budget
In 2010, the Government has allocated Rs 30 million under the capital budget to the Palmyrah Development Board to undertake various initiatives including replanting and new planting, fruit pulp production, palmyrah fibre production, jaggery production, soft drink production, sap production training and palmyrah handicraft training.

It is also proposed to establish three Katpaham Sale Centres in Colombo, Kandy and Puttalam.

Pulp extraction
Moreover, the Palmyrah Development Board with the support of National Engineering Research and Development Centre (NERD) has taken action to introduce palmyrah pulp extraction machine to extract pulp from the palmyrah fruits.

The newly developed pulp extraction machine was pilot tested in Kalpitiya, Puttalam in August 2010. It is estimated that 300 fruits can yield 100 litres of pulp. The new machine can extract pulp within 15-20 minutes covering 25 fruits at a time. The Palmyrah Development Board has ordered six such extraction machines. The price per extraction machine is Rs 127,000.

This new extraction machine will contribute significantly to increase the pulp production from the current 4000 litres in 2009 to at least 10,000 litres in 2010.

From the pulp production it is possible to produce locally many value added products such as soft drinks, cavum, jam, pannatu and also export bottled pulp.

Palmyrah Products
Soft drink production is planned to be increased from the current level of 16,000 bottles in 2009 to 45,000 bottles (375ml) in 2010.

Moreover it has been proposed to strengthen the existing jaggery production centres in Mannar and Jaffna and establish new centres in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

With regard to fibre production existing centres in Jaffna and Mannar are to be strengthened whereas new centres are to be established in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. Overall the fibre production for all production centres is to be increased from 5,660kg in 2009 to 7,500kg in 2010.

Katpaham Sales Centres
The Palmyrah Development Board has 13 Katpaham Sales Centres islandwide. All Palmyrah products and handicraft items can be purchased from 13 Katpaham Sales Centres in various districts.

The Meeting was chaired by Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Ministry Secretary V Sivagnanasothy attended by Advisor V Jegarasasingam, Additional Secretary (Development) K R Samarasinghe, Additional Secretary (Admin) W M M R Adhikari, Planning Director K L D H Munidasa, Senior Assistant Secretary D D Amaratunga, Palmyrah Development Board General Manager M B Loganathan, Assistant Manager (Processing Quality Control and Applied Research) S Srivijendran, Assistant Manager (Marketing and Production) Geeth, Assistant Manager (Finance) V P Thevarajah, Co-ordinating Secretary to Secretary S A Ranjan, Development Assistant S Anusha, Development Assistant Chandima Gunawardena and other officers.

The Ministry Secretary Sivagnanasothy informed that monthly Progress Review Meeting will be held and these meetings will be chaired by Minister Douglas Devananda.

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