Sri Lanka National Agricultural Policy (2007).

The goals and objectives of Sri Lanka National Agricultural Policy are: 1) Increase domestic agricultural production to ensure food and nutrition security of the nation; 2) Enhance agricultural productivity and ensure sustainable growth; 3) Maximize benefits and minimize adverse effects of globalization on domestic and export agriculture; 4) Adopt productive farming systems and improved agro-technologies with a view to reduce the unit cost of production and increase profits; 5) Adoption of technologies in farming that are environmentally friendly and harmless to health; 6) Promote agro-based industries and increase employment opportunities; 7) Enhance the income and the living standard of farming community. The agricultural sector will continue to play an important role in the application of strategies targeted towards a planned socio-economic development of the country. Rapid growth of the agricultural sector, particularly the domestic food production, floriculture and export crop sectors is essential to achieve self reliance at national level, ensure food security and to bring about equity in the distribution of income and wealth for alleviating of poverty.
The Policy Statements aim at promoting Agricultural Production by performing the following activities: implement technically sound, economically viable, environmental friendly and socially acceptable programmes to promote sustainable agricultural development with efficient and effective utilization of resources; increase local food supply, employment opportunities, and agricultural exports by emphasizing on cultivation of rice and other field crops, horticultural and floricultural crops, roots and tuberous crops, export agricultural crops, herbal crops, other underutilized crops and bee-keeping as well as supplementary food crops such as sugar cane, cashew and coconut; increase productivity of water and land by enhancing crop production through the application of sustainable cultivation practices; promote good agricultural practices such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Integrated Plant Nutrition Management (IPNM), for sustainable agricultural development; promoting income generation from integrated agriculture through livestock and aquaculture, etc. Formulation of production plans that will cater to the market needs and nutritional requirements. Cultivation of crops based on agro-climatic conditions and promoting agro-based industries. Introduce improved and modern technologies to the village whenever and wherever possible.
Irrigation and Water Management sectors aim at the following issues: encourage the use of efficient water management and moisture retention techniques to achieve high productivity in agriculture; conserve the existing water resources for sustainable agricultural development; improve efficiency of rain-fed agriculture through water harvesting, mulching and other appropriate techniques; promote participatory irrigation management in maintaining and improving irrigation and drainage systems; safeguard irrigation reservoirs, canals, drainage systems and other structures from damage by natural calamities and usage; prevent pollution of water from agriculture and industries; promote conservation of rain water and ground water; increasing the water-use efficiency and promote modern and intensive irrigation technologies for water conservation.
Land Use sector aims at the following issues: adhere to the National Land Use Policy in allocating land for cultivation purposes; promote maximum use of degraded, barren and infertile lands as well as lands under shifting cultivation (Chena) to ensure higher productivity and idle lands to be used for crop/forest cultivation and animal husbandry; ensure joint action among state institutions dealing with agriculture and lands; promote land conservation within watershed areas; compulsion to obtain a permit for land use; promote mixed cropping and inter-cropping to ensure efficient use of land; enforce implementation of the provisions of the Soil Conservation Act to ensure proper soil conservation.