Government to ban oil palm cultivations

Colombo (News 1st) - Minister of Plantation Industries Dr. Ramesh Pathirana states that the Cabinet of Ministers has decided to ban the cultivation of oil palm. The Minister stated that the decision was reached at the recent cabinet meeting and added that the Government would take steps to enforce the ban. Protests were held in several areas in the recent past calling for a ban on the cultivation of oil palms. The protestors claimed that oil palm cultivations had lead to the drying up of groundwater sources.