The
World Bank Team headed by Mr. John. C. Keyser, Task Team Leader (TTL) of the
Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) discussed the current
modernization process of 47 Agrarian Service Centers located in eleven
districts where the CSIAP is being implemented. The main objective of the
modernization of Agrarian Service Centers (ASCs) is to convert the Community
Centre into a One-Stop Service Centre that caters for the real needs of the farming
community in the area. This is considered as one of the biggest sub-projects,
which comes under the CSIAP. It has many components and therefore this project
will involve implementing major interventions with a view to developing the ASC as
a One-Stop Service Centre, which provides modern services to the farmers to
become resilient to the changing climate situation and thereby overcome the
issues that hinder their productivity.
The
following main areas have been identified as priority basis for the
modernization of ASCs in all six provinces. The major 03 interventions are;
- Renovating, expanding and refurbishing existing
47 office buildings of the ASCs within areas of the CSIAP to function as
attractive and productive One-stop Service Centers
- Establishing a full pledged ICT unit within
each of the 47 ASCs with trained officials and the necessary equipment to
provide required data related to weather forecasts, markets, and new technology
for farmers under the digitalization of ASCs.
- Establishing a Farm Machinery Hub (FMU) in
each of the 47 ASCs managed by the Agrarian Development Committee (ADC) of the
ASC to prevent the exploitation of farmers from the middlemen and also to provide
an opportunity for the ADC to develop the Agrarian Fund.
The
review meeting held this morning (19th) at the Department of Agrarian
Development (DAD) was chaired by Mr. A. H. M. L. Abeyrathne, Commissioner
General of Agrarian Development. Mr. Vijayakumar Rajaratnam, Commissioner (Development), DAD pointed out the modernization process of 47 ASCs. Mr. Sheu Salau, CO- TTL of
the CSIAP & Mission Leader of the World Bank also commented on the ASC modernization process.
Consultant
Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist of the
World Bank, Mr. D.V. Bandulasena, Institutional Development & Capacity
Building Specialist, Mr. Samantha Mallawaarachchi, IEC & ICT Specialist and
Mr. Christy Perera, Agri-Business & Market Linkage Development specialist
of the CSIAP were also present in this meeting. Please click Images to see more photos of the event.
Posted by CSIAP Sri Lanka Read full article Published Date : 2022-10-19