Swaminathan, however, pointed out that he had given his ideas regarding Sri Lanka's agriculture prospects to the Indian external affairs ministry.

'My plan is already there. They (Indian authorities) can do the necessary things. They can do what I have suggested. There is no need for me to go.'

The Indian government is, however, determined to help Sri Lanka revive agriculture in the island's north, whose economy is in a shambles after some 25 years of ethnic conflict that left over 90,000 people dead.

New Delhi is preparing to send a team of officials and experts to Colombo to study its needs and formulate plans that will cater to the needs of the population in the north.

Colombo says that rehabilitation of the displaced people will become easy only when the economy gets a boost in a region that has known nothing but violence for years and years.

The Indian delegation, which will include scientists from the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), is expected to visit Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Mannar, ICAR sources said.

When Swaminathan was in Sri Lanka in June, President Rajapaksa informed him that his government had a strategy to resurrect agriculture and urged the scientist to study the plans.

Swaminathan is the second prominent Indian to decline what could have been a high profile role aimed at rebuilding Sri Lanka post-LTTE. In February, N.R. Narayana Murthy, the Infosys Technologies chief mentor, declined to be the IT advisor to the Sri Lankan government citing personal reasons.