Sri Lanka should move beyond simply selling machinery to farmers and develop business models that make agricultural technology accessible while increasing farmers’ incomes, Deputy Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Chathuranga Abeysinghe said.
Speaking after a recent meeting with the Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers and Suppliers Association (AgMMA), Abeysinghe said the main challenge facing farmers was not a lack of technology but weaknesses in the economic model supporting agriculture.
He said small-scale farmers cultivating two or three acres often could not afford machinery costing hundreds of thousands of rupees, while purchasing inputs such as seeds and fertiliser on credit could leave farmers heavily indebted by the time their produce reached the market.
The deputy minister called on machinery manufacturers and suppliers to become partners in farmers’ value chains rather than operating solely as equipment sellers.
He proposed models in which groups of farmers could jointly access and use agricultural technology, allowing small-scale farmers to benefit from machinery without having to purchase it individually.
Abeysinghe also urged companies to develop agricultural solutions that improve productivity, reduce production costs, connect farmers directly with markets and increase their incomes.
He said cooperative-based models could play an important role in making technology accessible to farmers and strengthening the agricultural sector.
The deputy minister further called for greater investment in locally developed agricultural technology and urged the sector to evolve from traditional cultivation into a more integrated and commercially viable industry.
He said global food security could face serious challenges by 2035 and argued that changes to the country’s agricultural system should begin now rather than waiting for such pressures to intensify.
“Don’t just sell machines to our farmers. Let’s build an economy that helps our farmers win,” he said. (Newswire)