Secretary to the President Austin Fernando stated that smallholder agribusiness partnerships (SAPs) will be promoted as a part of the government’s Vision 2025.

At the ‘Innovative Models for Inclusive and Sustainable Agribusiness Development through Public Private Producer Partnerships (4Ps)’ conference, he noted that much of the poor population in Sri Lanka is based in rural areas and dependent on agriculture. Thus, the poor population would not witness economic progress by ignoring the agricultural sector.

National Agri Business Development Programme (NADeP) Director Yasantha Mapatuna identified the industry’s main challenges as declining productivity, climate change, poor quality, low value addition, poor logistical practices, lack of diversification, and communication and information gaps.