The first ever Climate
Smart Farmer Training School in South Asia established at Thirappane will
prepare Sri Lankan farmers for climate change, said Mr. Martin Raiser, World
Bank Vice President for South Asia during a visit to the Farmer Training School
(FTS) at Thirappane, Anuradhapura recently. “What
the farmers learn here is how to conserve water and how to use new planting
techniques. I was told, with these techniques they can increase income by
30% and reduce the water that they need to irrigate by more than half,” Mr.
Raiser added.
The World Bank’s Vice
President visited the FTS in the company of Mr. Faris H. Hadad-Zervos, Country
Director of the World Bank for Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka, Ms. Chiyo Kanda,
Country Manager of the World Bank for Maldives and Sri Lanka and other World
Bank officials. The FTS, built at a cost
of Rs. 40 million by the World Bank-funded Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture
Project (CSIAP) and implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, has been
designed to build the capacity of project beneficiaries for the use of Climate
Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and combat the adverse impacts of climate
change. Mr. Faris H. Hadad-Zervos and Ms. Chiyo Kanda laid foundation stones
for the FTS on 22 December 2021, and the school was declared open by Hon.
Mahinda Amaraweera, the Minister of Agriculture on 4 December 2022.
Expressing his views, Mr.
Raiser said, “The Farmer Training School at Thirappane is a great project. Very
happy to see the first Climate Smart Farmer Training School in South Asia and
how Sri Lankan farmers are being prepared for climate change.” When
inquired about advancing FTS up to international standards, Mr Raiser responded,
“There is a
lot of international learning that is possible. Some techniques, such as
mulching and drip irrigation I see here, have been used in other countries like
China. However, lot of the knowledge needs to be local – you need to understand
the local crops and the local soil. Sri Lanka has the capacity, with some
international support, to develop a top class system yourselves.” “We also have
internationally renowned Agriculture Experts who can come here and talk to
local scientists to develop the right solutions together,” added Mr. Raiser.
A
part of the CSIAP project is focusing on the rehabilitation of local irrigation
systems. This system retains rainwater and then transmit it along irrigation
channels onto the command area of the CSIAP. Several of Sri Lanka’s irrigation
channels, draining systems and tanks are currently dilapidated and silted up.
This means they can store less water and the soil is salinized; thus,
more land erodes into tanks. This reduces the effectiveness of the agriculture
systems in Sri Lanka. The goal of CSIAP is to rehabilitate local irrigation
systems and improve farmer knowledge to ensure Sri Lanka’s future in
climate-smart agriculture and help generate higher incomes for farmers.
“My message to Sri Lankan
farmers is to continue to study and learn. Do not just do everything that you
have done. Find a better way to do it. Talk to each other, communicate, learn
from others, and share experiences. That’s why a school like this is here.”
The Vice President, Country
Director and Country Manger awarded certificates to Farmer Leaders from Gomarankadawara
Agrerian Service Center Division in Eastern Province of the 6th group who undertook a 3-day Residential
Training Programme at the FTS. To mark this occasion, Mr. Raiser received a
token of appreciation prepared by the CSIAP from Mr. Gunadasa Samarasinghe, Secretary of Agriculture at the event.
Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, Climate Smart
Irrigation Agriculture Project presented a report on the current progress of
the project. Some of the farmers who participated in the training programme expressed
their views regarding the benefits they received due to the project.
Mr. Vijaya Wanasinghe, Provincial Secretary of
Agriculture, North Central Province, Ms. K.N.C
Gunawardhana, Director, Dr. Wasantha Mallawaarachchi- Principle Scientist, Dr. M.S. Nijamudeen, Principle Scientist,
Field crop & Research Development Institute, Mahailuppallama, Ms. Sandya
N.G Abeysekara, Additional District Secretary, North Central Province,
representatives of implementing agencies, farmers and CSIAP staff attended in this event.
