He had forward contracts with 2,220 farmers who cultivated 7,000 hectares of land producing about 3,000 kilograms of maize per hectare.

Agriculture minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene said the farmers were given hybrid seeds brought from Thailand.

Sadikeen said he started working with farmers to supply Sri Lanka's children's food supplement program 'Triposha' with 8,000 metric tonnes of maize a year.

Farmers were taught how to produce high quality maize with a low level of toxins. Tests have shown that maize produced by his farmers were only a quarter of the permitted international level.

Sadikeen said as a result buyers were prepared to pay more for his maize. He was exporting at 338 US dollars a tonne.

Minister Abeywardene said this year Sri Lanka has put 77,718 hectares under maize in the main 'Maha' cultivation season yielding 200,857 tonnes. In the minor 'Yala' season 15,656 hectares are to be cultivated yielding 47,075 tonnes of maize.

He said rains were delayed this year and some crops had already been destroyed in some areas.

Sri Lanka has been increasing maize production under a strategy of being 'self-sufficient' under the current administration, he said. Sri Lanka also gives subsidized fertilizer at a cost of about 250 million US dollar a year to the taxpayer to farmers.

In 2005 Sri Lanka had grown 28,401 hectares of maize and produced 41,804 tonnes of maize. By 2008 it had increased to 112,287 tonnes with 51,608 hectares coming under cultivation.