Mr. W. G. Gnanadasa, Senior Engineer and Mr. Sisira Semasinghe, Agriculture Extension Specialist of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) were on Saaratha Bahagira Live Radio Programme of SLBC on 07th Jan 2020 to talk about CSIAP and its objectives.

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The main economic project benefits are expected to come from (a) increases in the area under production and crop productivity through improved irrigations systems and farmers’ adoption of climate-resilient technologies; (b) diversification from food grains into climate-adaptive, higher-value agriculture; and (c) improved postharvest management, value addition, and marketing. In addition to the increases in productivity and production of higher-value crops, it is expected that establishing PGs and facilitating private sector links will lead to increased incomes of beneficiaries due to (a) higher prices for the agricultural produce through better aggregation and new market channels, also resulting from improved market information; (b) potentially reduced input prices resulting from procurement by the PGs in bulk; and (c) increased value addition through CSCs established by the PGs for postharvest activities, including aggregation, cleaning, grading, sorting, and processing.