“Let us come together and work for export-oriented industries." says Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation K.D. Lalkantha.

The program for facilitation and promotion of exports of chicken meat and egg-related products and ornamental fish was held on 16/09/2025 with the participation of Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation, K.D. Lalkantha at the New Auditorium of Western Provincial Council.

Joining this occasion, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation K.D. Lalkantha expressed his views.

What we need is to remove the obstacles. There are obstacles in 4 areas that need to be broken. The first one is political obstacles. The political culture in our country has been an obstacle to the country's progress. The decisions taken in the past were not narrow decisions. Next is the economic sector. The third one is society. Fourth is culture. Our country is stagnating because of the obstacles that exist within these four areas. The negative things in these areas should be removed and positive things should be added.

We discuss food consumption, its prices, and quality through the Food Security Committee. We discussed that chicken meat is expensive relative to its cost.

During last year's budget debate, we introduced economic democracy. If chicken meat traders had economic democracy, chicken meat wouldn't cost Rs. 1400 per kilogram by now. The farmer should be given the price he needs relative to his costs. The consumer's share should also be considered. Otherwise, there is no economic democracy there. If this concept is correctly understood, no one will have a problem.

The administration has not yet adapted in some places to the decisions taken by the government. We provide solutions to the problems in these sectors. We ask you to keep an optimistic attitude about that. People from the private sector come to meet us with various projects. That is fortunate.

In animal breeding, the National Livestock Development Board is still at a low level. There has been an economic decline in the country because politicians worked looking after their own pockets. If a decision is made correctly, we will not break it.

I asked why there are no canned chicken meat. I learned that there are a few. We should think about that aspect. Production should always move forward with technology. Let us come together and work for export-oriented industries.

This occasion was attended by Deputy Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Chathuranga Abeysinghe, Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation D.P. Wickramasinghe, and other officials representing relevant sectors.