* Sri Lanka Army converts former IDP camp into an orchard

* Sri Lanka Army converts former IDP camp into an orchard

Nov 17, Colombo: Complying with the government’s Deyata Sevana national tree planting campaign, Sri Lanka’s peacetime Army has taken a measure to convert the land of the former IDP camps in Vavuniya into a fruit orchard.
The Army on Friday (16) launched the cultivation project at Settikulam Manik Farm in Vavuniya planting more than 1,000 fruit saplings of hybrid nature.
The Army has taken over 10 acres of less fertile land in the area, where the welfare camps were set up after the end of the war for the nearly 280,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), to set up the orchard.
Sapling of fruit species like pomegranate, guava, mango, cashew, lime, etc were planted with the participation of the Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya as the Chief Guest.
The Army aims to provide fresh fruits from the orchard to both the public in Wanni and to the troops serving in the area.
At Settikulam, the Army is also growing vegetables on its own. The Army has launched a similar project jointly with Prima Ltd in a 225-acre land in the same area to grow corn.