The government has taken prompt action to boost export crop sectors such as cinnamon, coconut and related products, dairy and establishment of 10 Agro-entrepreneurship villages.

It has announced plans shortly to ensure productive use of a vast extent of State-owned land especially to boost agri-exports.

Un the context President Ranil Wickremesinghe has assured immediate solutions to land, housing, health, irrigation, and agriculture-related issues in the Northern Province, the President’s Media Division (PMD) says.

The Head of State also stated that 08 committees would be appointed at the provincial level to resolve the land issues.

He pointed out that all the land-related issues in the North and South of the country would be resolved accordingly.

President and Finance Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said vast amount of land belonging to Janatha Estate Development Board (JEDB), Sri Lanka State Plantation Corporation (SPC), and Land Reform Commission (LRC) remains without being cultivated or productively utilized for a long time. This he said was due to various reasons such as legal issues, institutional conflicts, lack of capital.

“There are possibilities of productively using such lands for the betterment of the economy. Accordingly, a program will be devised to allow investors to productively utilize the land in a manner to increase both the production and exports,” he said.

The Government proposes to lease out large parcels of unutilized/unproductively used lands on a long-term basis to grow exportable crops. Further, a new law to facilitate the proposed agricultural land lease program will also be presented to Parliament, the President said.

Plans with regard to disposal of Government lands were also mentioned in the 2023 Budget. The President said although preliminary activities related to the disposal of government lands are carried out by District Secretaries/Government Agents through Divisional Secretaries/Additional Government Agents, at a later stage such duties were also allocated to Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority and the Land Reform Commission which were established for special requirements.

It is reported that there are occurrences of discrimination and malpractice as preliminary activities related to disposal of lands are done in various ways by the respective entities.

Therefore, as the special requirements have already been met, a program will be prepared during the next year to enable preliminary activities in relation to the disposal of all government lands including the disposal of lands under the above two institutions only by the Divisional Secretaries, the President said.

In the 2023 Budget several other measures were also announced to boost the agriculture sector. One was the proposal to establish a separate Department for the development of the cinnamon industry in the Karandeniya area where cinnamon cultivation is widespread.

To enhance coconut and related products fragmentation of coconut lands will be restricted to those with less than one acre in extent as opposed to 4 hectares as at present.

The Foreign Employment Bureau (SLBFE) has now barred Sri Lankans travelling to Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on tourist visa seeking employment opportunities after information about a human trafficking ring, which had been auctioning off Sri Lankan female domestic workers in these countries, came to light recently.

State Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion Jagath Pushpakumara vowed stern legal actions against those who were involved in this racket.

Meanwhile, the main suspect in this human trafficking ring was arrested by the airport police at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake yesterday morning (Nov. 19) while returning to the island.

According to the Criminal Investigation Department’s findings, Sri Lankan women who were taken to Oman on the promise of jobs in Oman and the UAE, had been auctioned off to sultans for bids ranging from Rs. 10 million to Rs. 2.5 million.

Initiating a probe after being informed of the complaints received by Foreign Affairs Ministry on the matter, a three-member team of the CID, led by the director of Human Trafficking, Smuggling Investigation and Maritime Crime Investigation Division, had departed to Oman on October 03.

The investigation officers, after recording statements from a total of 45 Sri Lankan women who are sheltered at a safe house belonging to the Sri Lankan Embassy in Muscat, uncovered that they had arrived in Oman on tourist visas. They also found that these women had fled houses they were employed at for various reasons including the harassment.

To make matters worse, an officer of the Sri Lankan Embassy has sexually harassed the women who are sheltered at the safe house. His services have since been suspended.

Further probes into the matter disclosed that this sex trafficking ring had been operated by a group of officers of the Immigration & Emigration Department through the representatives of employment agencies stationed in Sri Lanka and Oman. Their target had been underprivileged local women facing financial difficulties.

The Sri Lankan Embassy in Muscat, in a statement, stated that at present, at least 90 Sri Lankan female domestic workers are stranded in Oman seeking repatriation assistance.

They are unable to afford the repatriation-related expenses such as visa, overstay penalty, air ticket, agent fees, and the cost of recruitment demanded by their respective sponsors.

The embassy said it has also sought the assistance of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to assist such victims.