Eco-Agricultural Activities

Eco-agriculture in a rainforest involves practices that promote sustainability and conservation of the natural resources while also ensuring profitable farming. This can be achieved through techniques like agroforestry, which involves integrating trees with crops and livestock, reducing deforestation, and promoting biodiversity. Additionally, use of organic methods such as composting, crop rotation and avoiding synthetic pesticides can also be adopted. Eco-agriculture aims to strike a balance between preserving the rainforest's ecological integrity and providing for the livelihoods of local communities who rely on the land for their food and income.

A wide variety of plants have been introduced in an area of approximately 2 hectares of land around the administrative complex and the Manager’s living quarters. Fruit trees that are indigenous to the wet-zone of Sri Lanka; varieties of spices including a small cinnamon patch and a Reed Patch which will supply the reeds for the hand-craft work of the Women’s Society. We are also developing a collection of rare plants so that students get a chance of learning how to recognize them. These are plants that most people have only heard of but never seen.

In addition, the project is making use of the many Kitul Palms (Caryota urens) on the site to make treacle from the sap of the palm thus encouraging the locals to also engage in this income generating activity.