Seminar on “Value Addition to Fruits and Vegetables”

A seminar on “Value Addition to Fruits and Vegetables”, organized by the Land Management, Human Settlement, Environment and Agriculture Committee, was held at the OPA auditorium on the 2^nd of August. The guest speakers were Prof. (Ms.) Ilmi Hewajulige, Director General and CEO, Industrial Technology Institue and Dr. (Mrs.) Narmada Perera, Deputy Director of Agriculture (Research), Fruit Research and Development Institute, Department of Agriculture. The event was moderated by Mr. Nelson de Silva, Former District Director, Ministry of Agriculture, and Senior Consultant, Open University of Sri Lanka. 

The speakers noted that value addition for fruits and vegetables involved the application of processes and techniques to enhance their market value, shelf life and consumer appeal. This would enable more produce to be exported as exports in this sector currently only accounted for 0.6% of Sri Lanka’s GDP. It was pointed out that, as most growers of fruits and vegetables are smallholder farmers, value addition would boost economic growth, particularly in rural areas. The need for technology transfer and capacity building to strengthen food processing was also highlighted.