Initiative to establish new market places for fresh fruits and vegetables
Seeds and fertilizer to be offered at discounted rates
Capacity building programmes organised to improve technical knowledge base of farmers
Supporting efforts to reform and revitalize Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector at the grassroots during
these challenging times, private sector bank HNB PLC launched ‘HNB Saru Ge Watte’, a campaign
aimed at establishing new marketplaces for rural farmers in urban areas while promoting home
gardening in urban areas across the Central Province.
Launched in collaboration with provincial and district agricultural offices, the campaign was kick-
started at the Kandy City Centre with the presence of Provincial Director General of Agriculture, S
A De Silva as the Chief Guest, HNB Deputy General Manager- Legal (Board Secretary) leading the
initiative Thushari Ranaweera, HNB DGM/Chief Credit Officer, Nirosh Perera, CBSL Manager
(Matale), Chathura Ratnayake together with HNB Regional Business Head (Central), Harsha
Wickremasinghe, HNB Kandy Customer Center, Senior Manager, Indika Ekanayake, KCC Chairman
Thusitha Wijayasena, Divisional Secretaries, Wathsala Marambage and R M S M Rathnayake.
“With our nation facing its worst economic and food security crisis in history, it is imperative that all
Sri Lankans work together to ensure we are able to produce enough to help tide us over during
these trying times. We are proud to launch the HNB Saru Ge-watte initiative to provide our
customers, the public and Sri Lankan farmers with the knowledge and partnerships necessary to
utilize all available land to cultivate food, and contribute even in a small way towards mitigating the
worst impacts of the coming crisis,” HNB Deputy General Manager- Legal (Board Secretary)
Thushari Ranaweera said.
Given that farmers in non-banking rural segments have difficulty connecting to buyers in urban areas,
HNB announced that it would work with its existing customer network to help disintermediate the
agriculture sector by creating direct relationships between rural farmers and consumers across the
island, in order to provide both sides respectively with a decent livelihood from their harvest, and a
reasonable price for their essential needs.
Notably, the initiative also aims to promote home-gardening among residences in urban areas. The
bank will facilitate seeds and fertiliser at discounted rates to residents to encourage farming in their
gardens. Working in collaboration with the Agriculture Department and Divisional Secretariat, HNB
has organised a series of capacity-building programmes to improve financial literacy and technical
know-how for farmers at the Kandy City Centre.
Press Release
“The Central province is a cornerstone of the agricultural sector in Sri Lanka. Over the past few
years we at HNB have worked towards supporting farmers in the area through partnerships with
our extensive portfolio of vendors. The ongoing crisis has only strengthened and fast-tracked this
commitment to our farmers and we are delighted to note that organisations such as the Kandy City
Center have stepped up to support us in this endeavor,” HNB Central Region Business Head,
Harsha Wickremasinghe said.
Chief Guest for the event , Director General of Department of Agriculture, S A De
Silva ceremonially opening the HNB Saru Ge-Watte initiative to the public and farmers in the
presence of HNB Deputy General Manager- Legal (Board Secretary), Thushari Ranaweera, HNB
Chief Credit Officer Nirosh Perera, Pujapitiya Divisional Secretary, Wathsala Marambe, Nawalapitiya
Divisional Secretary R M S N Rathnayake, Kandy City center Chairman, Thusitha Wijesena, HNB
Regional Business Head (Central), Harsha Wickramasinghe, Kandy Customer Center Senior
Manager, Indika Ekanayake, HNB Kandy Customer Center Manager- Micro Finance, N A Gamini
together with Agricultural Officers and HNB Customer Center representatives at the Kandy City
Center
Image 02: Farmers and the public at the event
Image 03: Plants given at discounted rates at the event
