• Nat. Agrarian Unity org.’s Chair Anuradha Tennakoon calls for genuine, scientific and efficient measures by the agricultural authorities to stem the food crisis and protect 3Mn agri families 

To gauge the magnitude of the destruction faced by the country’s agriculture sector in the recent past and to decide on what sort of approaches needs to be taken to revive the agriculture sector, proper surveys based on accurate data and grassroots level experiences need to be conducted. The lack of such surveys has affected the country’s agriculture sector, which has already been hit by a number of challenges triggered by the economic crisis, because the decisions taken by the authorities are not capable of addressing the challenges that the agriculture sector is actually going through.

Noting this, the National Agrarian Unity organisation’s Chairman Anuradha Tennakoon called for genuine, scientific and efficient measures by the country’s agricultural authorities. The failure to take the sector seriously, he cautioned, would place the country in a situation where the food crisis would become significantly worse. He added that the political authority too needs to take a more active role in these efforts, irrespective of political differences.

He made these remarks during an interview with The Daily Morning. 

Following are excerpts from the interview:

What are the farmers’ experiences in connection with the ongoing drought?

What we witnessed recently is a result of both the natural drought and the intentional non-provision of water to farmers farming around the Udawalawe reservoir. However, in the case of other reservoirs, the impact of the drought was not this intense because other tanks held adequate water to complete the farming activities of this ongoing farming season. Around 8,000 small tanks in the dry zone have dried up. However, rain water was also used to complete farming activities including harvesting, and we believe that a significant crop damage did not occur.

Since water from the Samanalawewa reservoir was not released to the Udawalawe reservoir by the Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera and the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) authorities, for around three weeks, nearly 66,600 acres of cultivations that depended on the water from the Udawalawe reservoir and around 35,600 farming families were affected. This lack of water has destroyed around 7,000-8,000 acres of cultivation. Had water been provided when farmers requested, it would have been possible to reduce the crop damage by around 25-30%. However, crop damage experienced in the said areas due to the lack of water is as high as 60% of the cultivations in those areas.

In this regard, the agricultural authorities should observe the cultivations with their own eyes, and conduct a proper survey. However, thus far, we did not see such steps being taken. What the majority of the officials generally do is obtaining information over the phone, which is not effective, and there, it has created an issue of accurate data.

Another issue that emerged in the context of the economic crisis is the fertiliser issue. Farmers claim that there are issues concerning the quality, affordability and availability of fertilisers, and that it has had a direct impact on the cultivations and yield. What is the current state of these issues?

It was in November 2021, that the ban on chemical fertilisers was lifted. However, since then, the authorities have not succeeded in providing fertilisers on time and the fertiliser issue continued. Although this issue had been addressed to a great extent in the current farming season, there were still issues with the system of distributing fertilisers and regarding which there were various proposals suggested. Due to many factors, including the decisions taken by the authorities from their offices not being suitable for the real-life conditions of the cultivated lands, the issue is still affecting the agriculture sector.

In the coming farming season, paddy would be cultivated in around 900,000 hectares of lands. However, we do not see a proper preparation plan being presented by the Agriculture Ministry to continue farming activities in that season by dealing with the seeds, chemical fertiliser and various other issues faced by the farmers.

What is your opinion on farmers’ financial situation in the present socio-economic climate?

Farmers are in dire economic situations. When low quality fertilisers are provided to farmers, it further affects them and damages crops. Farmers do not ask for subsidies or handouts. What they want is proper support from the authorities including proper basic facilities such as education for their children and health services for themselves. 

Another issue faced by farmers is the difficulties in selling their harvest on time and at an acceptable price. A farmer spends around Rs. 128-130 to produce a kilogram of paddy. However, they get less than Rs. 100, sometimes around Rs. 80-90, per a kilogram of paddy. They suffer losses endlessly. Although there were claims that the amount paid per kilogram of paddy was going to be increased, those statements came from various external parties, not the subject Minister. Thus far, the Ministry has not properly calculated the amount that has to be spent to produce a kilogram of paddy. Their calculations are based not on data collected from farmers or paddy fields, but on data that they obtain from air-conditioned (AC) rooms and conjecture. 

You said that the Government as well as the agriculture authorities have not paid adequate attention to these issues. What sort of steps or solutions do farmers expect from the Government?

What we ask for is mainly to provide chemical fertilisers on time. There is also a quality issue concerning the chemical fertilisers. It is crucial that we check and provide good quality fertilisers. In the recent past, various parties were permitted to import fertilisers and the fertilisers that we received were of different quality, which affected the crops. The Ministry should take the responsibility of ensuring that quality fertilisers are provided. 

We should identify that the dire situations created by the drought and created by decisions of Wijesekera and the authorities by not releasing water to the Udawalawe reservoir are two different situations. In the second case, cultivations were destroyed, and the authorities that advocated for such non-release of water should be held accountable. When providing compensation for this destruction, the Government should adopt three approaches. One compensation system should be for the farmers of the Walawe and Minneriya areas whose paddy cultivations were destroyed completely. Secondly, another compensation amount should be for crop damages in the paddy cultivation. The third approach should focus on providing compensation for other forms of crops such as banana, papaya, green gram, kidney beans and vegetables.

Every political party has a responsibility to revive the economy, and one of the foremost priorities should be improving the country’s production including agricultural products. It is for these purposes that all party conferences should be called and not for narrow political agenda. Even farmers in Mullaitivu ask whether the devolution of power would increase their yield, resolve their debt issues and provide fertilisers on time. That is what farmers are truly concerned about. Almost all farmers face the said issues albeit to different degrees. We are talking about three million (Mn) families engaged in the agriculture sector.

Middlemen and rice mill owners are also integral parties of this discussion, and their role has been somewhat controversial due to profits that they are said to be earning. What is the present state of this aspect of the issue?

In the recent past, it was small and medium scale rice mills that handled 70% of the country’s rice requirement, while only around 30% of that requirement was fulfilled by large scale rice mills. The monopoly surrounding rice prices was maintained by large scale rice mill owners. However, that situation has changed today, as the entire small and medium scale rice mills business has collapsed due to debts and other financial difficulties. Large scale rice mill owners have also come to a place where they think about this issue in a somewhat neutral manner, which I feel is a good development.

When it comes to middlemen, it is apparent that they rake in around 60-70% of the profit. The Consumer Affairs Authority, the Ministries of Trade and Agriculture, and other State affiliated institutions do not have a proper plan to address this situation.