State Minister of Development of Sugarcane, Maize, Cashew, Pepper, Cinnamon, Cloves, Betel Production and Promotion of Allied Products and Export Janaka Wakkumbura has permitted residents of Meemure, a village close to the Knuckle’s range, to cultivate cardamom, a Forest Department spokesman said.
After a visit to Meemure, the State Minister said there is a plan to grow cardamoms in an area under the Forest Department.
Sajeewa Chamikara of the Movement for Land and Agriculture Reform (MONLAR) said, “The forest land of the undergrowth in the Knuckle’s mountain range has been removed.”
The Dumbara range has a unique eco-system. It is also where the main catchment areas of the country’s longest river Mahaweli and also Kalu river is located. Environmentalists said that 30 percent of Mahaweli’s catchment area is in the Dumbara range that covers 21,000 hectares. In addition to the 30 of the 33 bird species that are endemic to Sri Lanka live in the range.
The area is also protected by the laws, including the National Environment Act. In 1873, the then rulers declared it as a protected cloud forest.
Chamikara said that it was of geological and ecological value and serves as a heritage site.
“During the Matale district development committee meeting in April 2014, several officials were criticised for allowing people to encroach into this land,”
he said. Six years ago, the
Local Industries Minister at the time, former Chairman of the Pradeshiya Sabha in Matale and the former District Secretary of Matale allowed people to encroach into the protected land to cultivate. A court order was later issued to remove the people from the area.
Chamikara said trees in the range are felled to make room to dry cardamom. “As a result, the impact this leaves on protected forest is large,” he added.
The prices of cardamom shot up by over 100 percent after the Government’s move to ban its import to promote local production.