Ridiyagama farm was established in the year 1938 by the then Department of Agriculture. Under the Department of Agriculture the farm was managed efficiently. Subsequently the farm was taken over by the Department of Animal Production & Health in 1977 and due to various reasons the productivity of the farm dropped and the operations were neglected. During 1980’s with the start of illicit Gemming the situation was further aggravated. The farm was so neglected, that not only the valuable pasture lands reversed back to think jungle but the buildings were also in a deplorable condition. The herd productivity and efficiency also suffered. The 1,000 pots of curd the Department of Agriculture produced for a day came down to a couple of hundreds during the last quarter of 1988. In the year 1992, this neglected and finance starved farm was handed over to the NLDB.

In 2015 the farm was modified as a modern dairy farm and imported 2,500 European type dairy cattle in the breeds of jersey x Frisian and pure jersey under the policy decision taken by the government for self-sufficient in milk. Under this programme the all infrastructure facilities required for intensive type dairy management system was introduced to the farm and developed 662 ha of pasture and fodder lands in order to fulfill the dry matter requirement of the imported animals and their off springs.

The main objective of this Farm was to breed and manage European type cattle in the breeds of jersey x Frisian and pure jersey under the fully intensive management and also to carry out a planned cropping program under pivot irrigation system and as well as rain fed water.

Climate is arid in nature and the mean temperature is 27ºC. Humidity is around 70% to 80% and the annual rainfall is around 1000 mm to 2500 mm over 60 to 100 wet days. Soil type is Reddish Brown & pH of the soil varies from 5.5 to 6.5.

- To maintain pure line Jersey and Friesian x Jersey cross bred cattle to issue breeding materials to the dairy farmers and large scale modern commercial dairy in Dry Zone.

- To maintain the coconut plantation efficiently.

- Providing facilities for in-plant training to the undergraduates / Diploma Holders.

Implementation of Sri Lanka Dairy Development Project – Phase II

After implementation of Sri Lanka Dairy Development Project Phase I in 2012/2013, 2,000 European type high yielding cattle were imported to Sri Lanka and accommodated in the three (03) upcountry farms namely Bopaththalawa, Dayagama and Manikpalama managed successfully at present. Later the NLDB imported another consignment of 2,500 nos. of dairy cattle from Australia and allocated them at Ridiyagama farm located in southern province in 2015.

Parallel to the above importation the Board has developed all infrastructure facilities at Ridiyagama farm such as pasture/fodder developments, construction of cattle sheds, storage facilities, introduction of modern machinery and Equipment etc.

Targeted milk production

After importation of 2,500 cattle, Ridiyagama farm would become as the largest dairy farm in Sri Lanka which could produce approximately 10.0 million ltrs of milk annually from the year 2016. In addition to that around 600-700 heifer calves are expected to issue to the public annually by this project. After completion of both phases I & II of the Sri Lanka Dairy Development Project, the total annual milk production of NLDB has increased up to 14.0 million ltrs from 3.0 million ltrs. by end of year 2018. The overall current contribution of NLDB to the national production is around 4% by end of 2018.