President Ranil Wickramasinghe directed the Nuwara Eliya District Secretary and Commissioner to immediately transfer the 30 acres of abandoned land near Ambewela Farm to Ambewela Farm and provide the necessary facilities to develop it, maintain it as grazing land, and incorporate it into the system of supplying the dairy cows’ food needs.
President Ranil Wickramasinghe issued these instructions yesterday (27) during an observation tour of the Ambewela Farm Group’s United Dairies Lanka Limited unit.
The President praised Ambewela Farm’s gradual growth in the milk production sector, saying it serves as an example for other farms. The President has also directed that this farm be opened for the research and experience of university students in Sri Lanka, as well as that the necessary background be prepared.
According to Mr. Sarath Bandara, General Manager of the Ambewela Farm Group, Ambewela Farm is the main centre in Sri Lanka and South Asia for the highest technical application of dairy products and farm technology.
United Dairies Lanka Limited Ambewela is a new company that currently has about 1000 dairy cows and obtains milk on a daily basis. In addition, milk is collected from these cows three times a day, and 40,000 litres of liquid milk are released to the market from this location and the entire Ambewela system to meet the country’s milk needs. All activities such as dairy cow maintenance, providing necessary food and drinks, weighing them, identifying disease conditions, and separating the cows in the event of such identification are performed mechanically using an automatic system.
The Ambewela farm system currently feeds 4500 cattle. Prior to the establishment of Ambewela Group in 2001, when it was owned by the government, it only procured 1500 litres of milk per day.
In the last 15 years, the Ambewela system has produced the best dairy cattle breeds in Sri Lanka. As a result, none of these dairy cows are imported from abroad, and using the most advanced technology available in the world to produce dairy cows, importing the sperm of the world’s best male cows, and using genetic technology to breed cows suitable for this country has become a part of the corporate process.
In addition, approximately a thousand indirect jobs have been created as a result of this farm in order to provide the necessary food for the dairy cows. A mechanism is also in place to transport the entire harvest of maize from farmers to the Ambewela farm. As a result, the Ambewela farm system has the capacity to collect and store approximately 25,000 metric tonnes of maize trees per year.
President Ranil Wickramasinghe also inspected 30 acres of land adjacent to the Ambewela Farm that has been identified as suitable for grass cultivation.
