Photo: Dr. Ranjith Mapa receiving the 2007 International Partners Award from Dr. Graham Gilchrist, President of the Agricultural Institute of Canada at the award ceremony held on November 6 in Edmonton.by Albert J. Fernando
(November, 13, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Dr. Ranjith Mapa, Professor of Soil Science, University of Peradeniya, received the prestigious 2007 International Partners Award from Agricultural Institute of Canada (AIC) that held its annual award ceremony in Edmonton, Canada, on November 6, 2007.
The ceremony, attended by about 300 leading agricultural experts from around the world, was held at Edmonton’s Crown Plaza Chateau Lacombe. The Award was presented to Dr. Mapa by Dr. Graham Gilchrist, President of the Agricultural Institute of Canada.
According to the citation, this prestigious award was given to Dr. Mapa “in recognition of his significant contributions to capacity building and agricultural research in Sri Lanka, and his impact on farmers, field workers, students, researchers, academics and policy makers alike.”
The citation also states that Dr. Mapa was a founding member of SRICANSOL, the twinning project between the Canadian Society of Social Science and the Science Society of Sri Lanka and he has provided leadership for the project for the past 12 years. SRICANSOL has produced publications on the Wet Zone, Dry Zone and Intermediate Zone of Sri Lanka, Fact Sheets of the Benchmark Soils, a GIS database and related maps.
In 2004 Dr. Mapa received the, “National Award of Excellence in Agricultural Research,” as team leader of SRICANSOL project, from Her Excellency President of Sri Lanka. He donated all the award money towards funding the SRICANSOL Centre. This amount was further matched by the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives in Sri Lanka making the Centre a reality.
Also at this ceremony, Mr. Robert Eilers from Winnipeg, Manitoba, received the International Recognition Award for his contribution to developing countries during the past 3 decades, notably in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Ranjith Mapa who hails from Kurunegala has a B.Sc. (Agriculture) from Sri Lanka and a Ph. D from the University of Hawaii, USA.
A non-assuming man, Dr. Ranjth Mapa says, “Actually this is a recognition that goes out to the entire team. It was, therefore, a collective effort. I was only the team leader.”
Dr. W.M.A.D.B. Wickramasinghe, Senior Soil Scientist and Mr. Nihal Sirisena, Soil Scientist, both from the Rice Research and Development Institute of the Department of Agriculture at Batalagoda, Ibbagamuwa also participated at this ceremony in Edmonton.
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