The Hon. Aravinda Senarath - Deputy Minister of Land and Irrigation
The Deputy Minister said Sri Lanka has not met its domestic black gram requirement and that plans are being prepared with the Ministry of Agriculture to support increased cultivation. He stated that farmers cultivating encroached lands may be regularized under a planned programme, with the Mahaweli Authority studying suitable areas and extents for formal land grants. He noted that past land alienation had often been influenced by political patronage rather than national objectives.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, as a country we have not been able to fully meet the black gram requirement. Therefore, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, we are preparing plans to regularize farmers cultivating on encroached lands and bring them under a planned programme.
¶ 02 Hon. Member’s proposal is very important. However, historically, whether by Mahaweli or other institutions, land alienation was often done not for national objectives but based on political patronage. Therefore, the Mahaweli Authority is conducting studies to identify areas and extents where land can be formally granted to these farmers. It is a complex issue, but the Government is implementing a plan both to increase black gram cultivation and to provide necessary land to these farmers.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Wednesday, 20 May 2026 ·No. 23618 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Aravinda Senarath - Deputy Minister of Land and Irrigation. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 20 May 2026. No. 23618. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/19181