IAMPP implements Rs 225-mn worth projects

Colombo: Private sector projects worth Rs 225 million has been implemented under the Integrated Agricultural Model Project Programme (IAMPP), established to boost exports of agricultural and agricultural based products.

Deputy Director, Export Development Board of Sri Lanka (EDB) M.Z.M Farhad said the main objective of establishing this project was to promote investments for the production of range of non-traditional agricultural products on a shared grant basis. These projects would involve a value chain approach to strengthen the production, value addition and innovation in order to expand export competitiveness.

'Each approved project will be offered a grant of Rs 10 million under reimbursement basis. We have approved 40 projects under this and 34 of them have been implemented.

However the reimbursement of funds has been slow and only Rs 25 million has been reimbursed so far. This year too the Government has allocated Rs 68 million for the programme and the EDB has called for project proposals of interested parties,' he said.

'There is a huge demand for fruit and vegetables in the Gulf countries and the demand for processed foods is increasing in EU. In Sri Lanka a large portion of small farmers are involved in cultivating fruits and vegetables in their home gardens.

Due to lack of continuous supply base, variation in products and less quality these farmers are unable to cater to export markets. Under the IAMPP these small-scale farmers will be linked with the large-scale exporters,' he added.

'We have noticed that there is significant growth in the export of fruit and vegetables after implementing IAMPP,' Farhad said.

Most of the investors in this scheme are large scale companies in the agricultural sector in Sri Lanka and the plantation companies who wish to diversify to other businesses.

'Different investors have embarked on projects such asthe cultivation of pineapple, mushrooms, spices, herbals, cut flowers, coir based products, organic products, food processing and frozen food manufacturing under this programme targeting export market,' he said.

'At the initial stage companies need to find their own capital for the projects. However legal agreement with the EDB to implement the project will help these investors in obtaining bank loans,' he added.