10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Namal Karunaratne - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock

Jathika Jana balawegaya· Kurunegala· 18 December 2024 ·Oral question: Oral Questions (Questions 1–10)

Agriculture
AI summary generated by gpt-5.5

Namal Karunaratne stated that the Government has not taken a final decision on plans for idle or overgrown farms, but is considering how to revive them, increase income, and return land to cultivation. He said the Government would intervene directly and, if necessary, work with domestic investors or stakeholders, while safeguarding national interests and not relying on foreign involvement.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Not exactly as you put it. There are domestic investors, and certain needs are hard for the Government alone to meet. No one says the Government must do everything. Without compromising national interest, associating our country’s investors—not foreigners—in such activities is normal. We have not yet made decisions; we will discuss how best to revive idle farms, increase income, and convert overgrown lands back to cultivation. The Government will directly intervene, and, if needed, engage domestic stakeholders. No final decision has been taken.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Wednesday, 18 December 2024 ·No. 1735286612086554 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
Page · column
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Permalink
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Cite as: The Hon. Namal Karunaratne - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 18 December 2024. No. 1735286612086554. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/12040