Raga an innovative line of organic, Kithul-based products brewing and canning factory was launched by Agri Deshiya (Pvt.) Ltd.– a local company at the Nalanda Ellawala Industrial Zone, Ratnapura committed to elevate Sri Lanka through value-added agricultural products for exports. For the first time the company made beer from toddy for the export market.
Driven by local innovation, sustainability and ethical production, all rāgā products are 100% natural, with no added preservatives. The technology partner, Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) has played a critical role in providing pioneering and unique technologies that have been incorporated at each step of the production process. The new facility is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, enabling rāgā products to revolutionise one of Sri Lanka’s most beloved yet, severely under-utilised foods: Kithul.
“We are extremely proud of the fact that, through rāgā, we have not just remained the potential of our island nation’s underappreciated agro-resources such as Kithul, but we have also paved the way for the traditional, village level Kithul tapping trade to become an internationally recognised industry,’’ said Prabath De Alwis, Chairman of Agri Deshiya (Pvt.) Ltd. The entire factory is also backed by internationally recognised standards such as ISO 22000 – Food Safety Management System, GMP and HACCP, in addition to the continuous quality testing conducted in-house.
Minister of Industries Wimal Weerawansa said that when the country needs dollars this export will help that cause.
“We do not want to send our women to work as housemaids in foreign countries. This is a time when people with wisdom and aspirations, and financial ability, are needed more and more in order to add value to what nature has given us in more than enough quantities. We are encouraging local industrialist enterprises of this nature that bring foreign exchange into the country while also generating employment.”
by Daily News Sri Lanka
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