Farmer organisations in the Batticaloa District yesterday appealed to Senior Advisor to the President Basil Rajapaksa,MP, that there was an urgent need to implement the Government’s proposal to elevate the Karadiyanaru Agricultural Farm into a fully fledged Agricultural Research Centre with a Seed Paddy Unit to realise the "Granary of the East ".

The farmers said that one of the biggest obstacles they faced were the non availability of healthy parent seed paddy for cultivation.Over 40 per cent of farmers obtain seed paddy from the private sector at great cost whereas fellow farmers in Amparai have a seed paddy unit at Malwatte and Trincomalee farmers have a unit in Kantalai.

Farmer have urged agricultural authorities in Colombo to provide sufficient inputs like 400,000 bags of Urea, TSP and MOP, paddy seedlings and security clearance to transport diesel in time at least by the first week of September.

The farmers expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the Senior Presidential advisor Basil Rajapaksa for providingt 69 hand tractors from Japan at subsidized cost repayable over a period of five years on an interest free loan provided by the Government.

The farmer organisations expressed their gratitude when they met the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan held at the Vakarai divisional secretariat last Sunday and the Chenkalady divisional secretariat yesterday August (11)in connection with the arrangements for cultivation the forthcoming Maha season.