The CSIAP Provides AIs in Batticaloa with Rs: One Million of 10 Soil Testing Kits

Minister Hon. Mahindananda Aluthgamage hands a soil testing kit over to an Agriculture Instructor

The Climate Smart  Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) funded by the World Bank supplies Agriculture Instructors (AIs)  with Rs: One Million of 10 Soil Testing Kits to support farmers in  the CSIAP command area in Batticaloa yesterday (26th). On behalf of the CSIAP, Hon. Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Minister of Agriculture, handed Soil Testing Kits over to AIs ceremonially at the Deputy Commissioner Office of the Department of Agrarian Development (DAD), Batticaloa.

The CSIAP will provide AIs in the rest of the CSIAP’s command areas: Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee, Ampara, Moneragala and Hambantota with soil testing kits soon.

The goal of soil testing is to provide an accurate assessment of the soil's fertility to make fertilizer recommendations. With the increasing awareness of fertilizer effects on environmental quality, soil tests also can be used to determine where fertilizers or manure should not be applied. The basic soil tests pinpoint the amount of organic matter, the pH and the level of macronutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K).

Hon. Sathasivam Viyalendiran, the State Minister of Backward Rural Areas Development, Promotion of Domestic Animal Husbandry and Minor Economic Crop Cultivation, Hon. Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, MP & Co-Chairman of District Coordinating Committee, Batticaloa, Officials of DAD, Officials of the CSIAP and farmers were present at the ceremony.

Agriculture Instructors in Batticaloa who received soil testing kits