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National food security: Revisit custom tariff to make agritech affordable

01 Feb 2021

To make food accessible and affordable, there is a need to focus on making modern technology for precision agriculture affordable to farmers to enhance productivity, and this requires revisiting the custom tariff imposed on several imported technologies, including seeds and micro-irrigation systems. In turn, this would help towards the adoption of such technology by farmers contributing to the overall agricultural economy and food security. This was noted in an article titled “A 60-day battle to tackle food security: Response of the Sri Lankan Government to the Covid-19 pandemic” authored by B. Marambe and P. Silva attached to the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Peradeniya, and published recently in the Sri Lanka Journal of Food and Agriculture. The negatives stemming from the heavy reliance on food imports, costing a colossal sum of foreign exchange, have been realised on a daily basis, thereby indicating the importance of becoming self-reliant in national food security. The agriculture sector, in particular, needs to change gears in its production drive by making sound evidence-based decisions. The continuation of food production as an essential service was a crucial decision taken by the relevant authority to assure food availability and accessibility. However, increasing crop, animal, and land productivity are important approaches to enhance the availability of food in the medium and long run in the “new normal” Sri Lanka. In 2018, Sri Lanka spent Rs. 422.5 billion to import food and beverages (11.8% of total imports). As of 2018, the country produces only about 69% of maize, 10% of big onion, 58% of cowpea, 84% of groundnut, 49% of black gram, and 80% of red onion. However, 3.2 million tonnes of a bumper paddy harvest from the 2019/20 Maha season was obtained recently, before the Covid-19 lockdown, and coupled with the harvest from the 2020 Yala season, this is sufficient to make rice available for approximately another 16 months, according to the Department of Agriculture. There is opportunity to progress in many of the other food crops, having considered the economies of scale. However, evidence-based decision-making has not taken place, once again, for example, in determining the agricultural input requirement, the authors noted. An enhanced demand for agricultural inputs was obvious with the country-wide home garden development programme and the increased cultivation extent in the Yala season. We now hear complaints of the unavailability of fertiliser even to be purchased at market prices, Marambe and Silva added. The Cabinet of Ministers’ decision taken in April 2020, though helpful, was significantly delayed. Ground realities should have been understood better, the duo observed, noting that delayed cultivation due to the non-availability of inputs or due to any other effect and the untimely input supply that does not match with the growth stage of the crops could adversely affect their productivity. Temporary restrictions imposed on food imports until July 2020; the introduction of a guaranteed price for 16 identified priority crops, agricultural insurance, subsidised inputs; and allowing farmers to continue to cultivate irrespective of the islandwide curfew, among others, no doubt have encouraged the farming community to support this massive food production and productivity enhancement drive. The directive given to “work from home” had to be redefined to suit the agriculture profession without hampering the momentum gained amidst the crisis. To make food available, several efforts were made by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), focusing on consumers by fixing maximum retail prices (MRPs) for essential food items and allowing customers in the queue to purchase items irrespective of the time of the imposition of curfew. However, the imposition of the MRP had to be withdrawn owing to the rapid devaluation of the rupee. The appointment of the Presidential Task Force on Economic Revival and Poverty Alleviation was, the authors explain, an important move forward to make the country food-secure. However, they emphasised that the country urgently requires an agriculture task force to include the director generals of the Departments of Agriculture, Export Agriculture, and Animal Production and Health; directors of the relevant provincial departments the Tea, Coconut, Rubber, and Sugarcane Research Institutes as well as other relevant state institutions; academia from the Faculties of Agriculture; and the private sector. This is because they have, in reality, been the ones leading the task force by implementing agriculture-related actions on the ground level with the farming community, including through education and awareness creation. This, the researchers point out, is a serious drawback in the system, as knowing the ground reality is a must in making national-level decisions. Despite these drawbacks, they noted that the efforts made by the authorities to support farming, and also make some important agricultural operations in the supply chain as essential services, were commendable. With regard to making food accessible and affordable, the perennial problems such as the failure of having the timely availability of required high-quality inputs, including seed and fertiliser, high-priced technology due to tariff-related matters, the unavailability of skilled labour, and ineffective food distribution mechanisms, among others, have overshadowed the efforts made by the authority during this crisis situation. Historically, the inefficiencies in the supply chain and market chain have resulted in lower farmer profits and higher consumer prices. These perennial problems are an accumulated outcome of unwise decision-making, Marambe and Silva elaborated, further noting that the absence of evidence-based decisions when it comes to food importation has become a habit of every government. Some important decisions have been taken by the GoSL as a solution to support the marketing of agricultural produce from the farm-gate to reduce food miles by introducing new transport options, facilitating the introduction of alternate marketing systems such as online systems and reducing post-harvest losses of perishables, among others. The electronic auctions of tea and coconut are important events in this regard. Though there was a panic-buying of tea at the e-auction started in April 2020, both tea and coconut auctions would have eased the country’s economic situation to some extent, thereby supporting food security. The sustenance in these and many other improved mechanisms such as the online delivery of food to the doorstep, introduced during the pandemic, requires strong partnership among the stakeholders, especially through the involvement of the private sector, while ensuring food quality and safety.

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