Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has instructed the Department of Forest Conservation to provide opportunities for the people living near the reserves to harvest jackfruit and breadfruit from the forests.
Accordingly, the Minister has instructed the relevant parties to issue licences to these groups free of charge.
The forest officials have pointed out to the Minister that there are about 3000 hectares of forest lands throughout the country, where jackfruit and breadfruit crops are being wasted with no use.
The Minister’s decision comes in as a ‘solution’ to the worst food crisis in the history of Sri Lanka.
Amaraweera, who was once part of the regime that should be held accountable for the crisis created upon the short-sighted banning of chemical fertiliser a year ago, had earlier told media that people should begin to grow manioc or sweet potato as a solution to the food crisis, and now is implying that the people who had walked out of the forest hundreds of years ago should walk back.
