Peri-Urban Agriculture With Family Business Gardens in Hambantota, Sri Lanka

At present, 75% of occupying families have been gaining benefits from the Family Business Garden

By Thilak T. Ranasinghe, PhD.
Consultant/Advisor for Urban Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods

Excerpt:

Technology Adoption: – It is great that residents adopted new crop cultivations, creation of live-vertical-cultivation-structures, and use of artificial shade during drought periods and soil improvement methodologies in the process of technology adoption. Micro-irrigation demonstrations were conducted so as to reduce water bills and also production costs. The adoption levels were high although majority of the residents were strangers to scientific agriculture or if not for any form of micro-agriculture.

By now homesteaders diversified their homesteads with red onions, neera-leeks and chilies although the present scale of nice market is being reduced due to less number of Chinese in the area. The entrance to quails rearing through vertical manner was somewhat small in scale but effective in generating incomes. Presently some residents converted their vertical cages in rearing chickens for eggs. After the project termination, Departments of Agriculture and Animal Production and Health support for such crop diversification strategies to sustain Family Business Gardens along with the Government development programme namely “Divi Neguma” – Upgrading the Living.

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