A special committee has been designated to address crop damage caused by wild animals and to provide important recommendations for managing the animals responsible.This committee has been appointed by the Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Livestock, and Irrigation, M.P.N.M.
Wickramasinghe, under the assistance of the Minister, K.D.
Lalkantha.Accordingly, D.S.
Rathnasinghe, the Additional Secretary (Agricultural Development) of the Ministry, has been appointed as the Chairman, in addition to 15 other members.The committee is currently getting and evaluating ideas and suggestions from scholars, environmental companies, ecologists, farmers, innovators, and residents on how to prevent damage to crops caused by wild animals and manage the animals responsible for agricultural damage according to the Ministry.In addition, the committee has actually determined the need to carry out a census of picked wild animals due to the absence of a precise data system regarding the population of wild animals that harm farming crops.
This census is prepared for next March, and a preliminary survey was recently carried out in the Ingiriya Grama Niladhari Division to assess its feasibility.Additionally, on February 27, an assessment with a group of professionals on this subject had been held with the involvement of the Minister.During the assessment, the Minister kept in mind that there is presently no institution focused on Wildlife management and highlighted the value of cultivating a discourse on wildlife management within society.The Minister even more stated that the present federal government is anticipated to intervene and fix this long-standing concern, which has established over many years without proper management.
The government plans to execute both short-term and long-lasting steps in line with the recommendations of this committee.Furthermore, all recommendations made by this committee are scheduled to be submitted to the Minister before completion of March.