By Cyril Wimalasurendre

KANDY – It is a pleasure for the entire nation to see the end of an era when farmers drank poison because they could not get a reasonable price for their produce, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in a message of felicitation to the Rice Congress 2010, which was inaugurated yesterday (02) at Gannoruwa in Peradeniya.

The two-day sessions of the congress was inaugurated at the Plant Genetics Resource Centre (PGRC) with Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana in the Chair.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s message was tabled at the sessions.

While wishing the congress success and congratulating the organizers, the President had expressed pleasure at being able to give his blessings.

"The people shunned agriculture during the past several decades causing Sri Lanka’s deterioration. Because of this our independence was being lost. In our journey to an independent economy what we did first was to identify this situation and take remedial measures, President Rajapaksa stated.

The message said that Programmes like Api Wawamu – Rata Nagamu and many others, including the cultivation of abandoned paddy, made a positive impact on the agricultural sector.

The peasantry of Sri Lanka has been encouraged by providing land, a massive fertilizer subsidy and a certified price for paddy among other facilities.

The President had also said that agriculture had made the country self-sufficient.

"Our country was called the Garnery of the East taking all these virtues into consideration."