Palmyrah Development Board is also involved in technology dissemination programs. In this view extension division is directly conducting handicraft trainings for women groups and handicraft teachers (master graft man) for skill development. In addition to that sap training, pulp training, fiber training and timber based training also were conducted by this division.
Technology Dissemination Trainings
Palm leaf Handicrafts trainings are conducted by specially trained handicraft instructors of PDB. Nearly 50 number of instructors are involving in this effort. They were sent to various villages through head office in Jaffna and seven district offices to impart training to unemployed poor village folks, school dropouts and to destitute adult women to engage in self-employment. Handicraft training program is for a period of 6 months to new trainees and another 3months training program was designed to the producers to train in new designs. This training created hundreds of new producers every year.
Palmyrah food production trainings, pulp preservation trainings, timber-based souvenir production trainings are conducted annually based on the season and request. These trainings are conducted with the support of PRI, Production staff and high skilled resource persons.
At the end of these trainings, trainees are grouped to form production groups/societies and they are registered under Palmyrah Development Board. While the products of this producers are marketed by Palmyarh Board, they are supported to establish private market linkages too. The quality control assistance also provided by PDB time to time to ensure good price for their products.
The numbers of the trainees trained in handicraft making for last three years
| Districts | Number of Trainees-2017 | Number of Trainees-2018 | Number of Trainees-2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jaffna | 87 | 51 | 132 |
| Kilinochchi | 51 | 20 | 21 |
| Mullaithivu | 63 | 35 | 25 |
| Vavuniya | 50 | 46 | 42 |
| Mannar | 39 | 20 | 20 |
| Puttalam | 35 | 23 | 28 |
| Trincomalee | 117 | 20 | 25 |
| Batticaloa | 221 | 234 | 340 |
| Amparai | 107 | 70 | 110 |
| Hambanthota | 38 | - | - |
| Kurunegala | 24 | 20 | 10 |
| Anuradhapura | 40 | 20 | 10 |
| Total | 872 | 559 | 763 |
Last three years palm leaf handicraft producer detail and their production value
| Year | No. of producers engaged in production | Value of production Rs. Mn |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 1327 | 13.26 |
| 2018 | 2112 | 20.74 |
| 2019 | 2364 | 61.30 |
The numbers of other Palmyrah-based trainings conducted in year 2019
| Type of trainings | No. of training centers | No. of trainees |
|---|---|---|
| Pulp production training | 01 | 25 |
| Sap training | 01 | 39 |
| Handicraft trainers training | 01 | 25 |
Trainers Trainings
A special training was organized to strengthening the trainers. It was conducted as 3 days residential training program. Eleven resource person and 25 handicraft instructors were participated in this training. Trainers were trained in different disciplines with the view to strengthen their activities in community level.
Formation of palm product societies
By understanding the importance of strengthening production groups to increase the production. Production groups were registered in PDB under the PDB mandate.
Detail of the registered producer groups - 2019
| District | No. of Societies | No. of Members |
|---|---|---|
| Jaffna | 25 | 794 |
| Kilinochchi | 9 | 225 |
| Vavuniya | 3 | 78 |
| Mullaitivu | 3 | 50 |
| Mannar | 8 | 330 |
| Batticaloa | 17 | 484 |
| Puttalam | 5 | 70 |
| Trincomalee | 5 | 135 |
| Ampara | 6 | 149 |
| Total | 81 | 2,315 |