# Ministry of Agriculture (Sri Lanka)

The Ministry of Agriculture (Sinhala: කෘෂිකර්ම අමාත්‍යාංශය; Tamil: கமத்தொழில் அமைச்சு) is the central government ministry of Sri Lanka responsible for agriculture. The ministry is responsible for formulating and implementing national policy on home affairs and other subjects which come under its purview. The current Minister of Agriculture is President K. D. Lalkantha. The ministry's secretary is D. P. Wickremasinghe.

## Ministers

The Minister of Agriculture is a member of the Cabinet of Sri Lanka.

### Parties

Governors of British Ceylon  United National Party  Sri Lanka Freedom Party  Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party  Eelam People's Democratic Party  Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna  National People's Power
Ministers of Agriculture :
| Name | Party | Took office | Left office | Head of government | Ministerial title |
| D. S. Senanayake | United National Party | 1931 | 1946 | Henry Monck-Mason Moore | Minister of Agriculture and Lands |
| Dudley Senanayake | United National Party | 1946 | 1947 | Henry Monck-Mason Moore | Minister of Agriculture and Lands |
| Dudley Senanayake | United National Party | 26 September 1947 | 26 March 1952 | D. S. Senanayake | Minister of Agriculture and Lands |
| P. B. Bulankulame | | 26 March 1952 | 1952 | Dudley Senanayake | Minister of Agriculture and Lands |
| Senator Oliver Goonetilleke | | 19 June 1952 | | Dudley Senanayake | Minister of Agriculture and Food |
| J. R. Jayewardene | United National Party | 1953 | | John Kotelawala | Minister of Agriculture and Food |
| Philip Gunawardena | Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party | 12 April 1956 | 18 May 1959 | S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike | Minister of Agriculture and Food |
| C. P. de Silva | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 9 June 1959 | | S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike | Minister of Agriculture |
| C. P. de Silva | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | | December 1959 | Wijeyananda Dahanayake | Minister of Agriculture and Lands |
| M. D. Banda | United National Party | 23 March 1960 | 1960 | Dudley Senanayake | Minister of Agriculture and Lands |
| C. P. de Silva | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 23 July 1960 | | Sirimavo Bandaranaike | Minister of Agriculture, Land, Irrigation and Power |
| Felix Dias Bandaranaike | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 28 May 1963 | | Sirimavo Bandaranaike | Minister of Agriculture, Food and Co-operative Development |
| M. D. Banda | United National Party | | | Dudley Senanayake | Minister of Agriculture and Food |
| Hector Kobbekaduwa | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | | | Sirimavo Bandaranaike | Minister of Agriculture and Lands |
| Lionel Senanayake | United National Party | 13 July 1977 | | J. R. Jayewardene | Minister of Agriculture and Lands |
| D. B. Wijetunga | United National Party | | | J. R. Jayewardene | Minister of Food, Agricultural Development and Research |
| Lalith Athulathmudali | United National Party | 18 February 1989 | | Ranasinghe Premadasa | Minister of Agriculture, Food and Cooperatives |
| R. M. Dharmadasa Banda | United National Party | 1990 | | Ranasinghe Premadasa | Minister of Agriculture & Research |
| D. M. Jayaratne | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 19 August 1994 | | D. B. Wijetunga | Minister of Agriculture, Land and Forestry Conservation |
| D. M. Jayaratne | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 19 October 2000 | 14 September 2001 | Chandrika Kumaratunga | Minister of Agriculture |
| D. M. Jayaratne | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 14 September 2001 | | Chandrika Kumaratunga | Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Food and Cooperative Development |
| S. B. Dissanayake | United National Party | 12 December 2001 | | Chandrika Kumaratunga | Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Welfare |
| Anura Kumara Dissanayake | Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna | 10 April 2004 | | Chandrika Kumaratunga | Minister of Agricultural |
| Ratnasiri Wickremanayake | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 27 July 2005 | | Chandrika Kumaratunga | Minister of Agriculture |
| Maithripala Sirisena | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 23 November 2005 | | Mahinda Rajapaksa | Minister of Agriculture, Environment, Irrigation and Mahaweli Development |
| Maithripala Sirisena | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 28 January 2007 | | Mahinda Rajapaksa | Minister of Agricultural Development and Agrarian Services |
| Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 23 April 2010 | | Mahinda Rajapaksa | Minister of Agriculture |
| Duminda Dissanayake | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 12 January 2015 | 22 March 2015 | Maithripala Sirisena | Minister of Irrigation and Agriculture |
| Duminda Dissanayake | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 22 March 2015 | 1 May 2018 | Maithripala Sirisena | Minister of Agriculture |
| Mahinda Amaraweera | Sri Lanka Freedom Party | 29 October 2018 | 15 December 2018 | Maithripala Sirisena | Minister of Agriculture |
| P. Harrison | United National Party | 20 December 2018 | 21 November 2019 | Maithripala Sirisena | Minister of Agriculture, Rural Economic Affairs, Livestock Development, Irrigation, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development |
| Mahindananda Aluthgamage | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | 12 August 2020 | 3 April 2022 | Gotabaya Rajapaksa | Minister of Agriculture |
| Janaka Wakkumbura | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | 18 April 2022 | 9 May 2022 | Gotabaya Rajapaksa | Minister of Agriculture |
| Mahinda Amaraweera | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | 12 May 2022 | 23 September 2024 | Gotabaya Rajapaksa | Minister of Agriculture |
| Mahinda Amaraweera | Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna | 12 May 2022 | 23 September 2024 | Ranil Wickremesinghe | Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries |
| Anura Kumara Dissanayake | National People's Power | 24 September 2024 | 18 November 2024 | Anura Kumara Dissanayake | Minister of Agriculture, Land, Livestock, Irrigation, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources |
| K. D. Lalkantha | National People's Power | 18 November 2024 | Incumbent | Anura Kumara Dissanayake | Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation |

## Key objectives

The key objective of the Ministry of agriculture is to:
* Supportive agricultural policy for food and allied agricultural crops,
* Established food and nutrition security,
* Stable prices for agricultural products,
* Efficiently coordinated paddy purchasing and marketing programme,
* Timely implementation of projects, Increase production in selected crops,
* Efficient and effective implementation of accelerated food production programme,
* Efficient and effective use of foreign funds,
* Customer friendly and result oriented administrative system,
* Results-based management in entire government sector. 65

## Secretaries

Agriculture Secretaries :
| Name | Took office | Title |
| K. E. Karunatilake | 22 November 2010 | Agriculture Secretary |
| B. Wijayaratne | 19 January 2015 | Irrigation and Agriculture Secretary |
| B. Wijayaratne | 8 September 2015 | Agriculture Secretary |