The Authority says that the demand for the indigenous types of seeds instead of the hybrid varieties available in the market now have gone up. Although the indigenous food crops yield lesser, they are more immune to pest attacks and have high nutritional value, the authority says.

The Chairman of the Authority Nandasena Herath said 1,000 acres of the land of military camps in the Northern and Eastern Provinces would be utilized for the cultivation of indigenous food crops for seed production.

The Civil Defense Force has already started cultivating indigenous food crops in the lands belong to Mahailuppallama Field Crop Research Institute.