World
Bank Managing Director for Operations Ms. Anna Bjerde and Regional
Vice-President South Asia Dr. Martin Raiser with the delegation from the World
Bank, Asia Development Bank, JICA and USAID visited the Climate Smart Farmer
Training School (FTS) in Thirappane yesterday (29th). The FTS was established for framer leaders by the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP). The purpose of their visit was to observe how the FTS is running to promote Climate Smart Agriculture and assess the progress of
the CSIAP. This Farmer Training
School will play a pivotal role in training and equipping farmers with hands-on
experience in Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices and cutting-edge
agricultural technologies. According to the World Bank, the FTS at Thirappane is the first school established in South Asia to promote climate-smart agriculture.
The CSIAP Project Director Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna welcomed distinguished guests and presented the progress achieved so far and how the CSIAP moves forward to meet project objectives. Addressing the audience Ms. Bjerde Said the significance of a school for
farmers in the region, focusing on climate-smart agriculture. She highlighted
the changing weather patterns caused by climate change and how this school is
equipping farmers with techniques to enhance productivity and resilience in
crop production. She also mentioned three major benefits of this project: the transition to
renewable energy, particularly solar power; increased and stable livelihoods,
enabling children to access education, including higher education; and
diversified and sustainable crop yields, ensuring better nutrition. She
expressed pride in the World Bank’s support for this project and emphasised the
need for more initiatives like this to address the challenges posed by climate
change, both through mitigation and adaptation efforts. She hoped that the
project could be sustained by building on the lessons and experiences
demonstrating the positive impact on changing the lives and livelihoods of farmer
communities.Farmers who had undergone the three-day residential training programme on Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture at
the Farmer Training School received certificates during this event. Among those who attended the event were Agriculture and Plantation Industries
Minister Hon. Mahinda Amaraweera, State Minister of Finance Hon. Shehan
Semasinghe, Former Minister Hon. Duminda Dissanayake, Asian Development Bank
Country Director Mr. Takafumi Kadono,
World Bank Country Director for Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka Mr. Faris Hadad –
Zervos, Country Manager for Sri Lanka and the Maldives Ms. Chiyo Kanda, USAID
Deputy Assistant Administrator Ms. Anjali Kaur, JICA Senior Vice President Ms. Sachiko
Imoto, Mr. Janaka Dharmakeerthi, Secretary and Ms. Latheesha Liyanage,
Additional Secretary (Development) of the Ministry of Agriculture, officials of
implementing agencies and CSIAP.
Posted by CSIAP Sri Lanka Read full article Published Date : 2023-10-30
