• Seeks reduction of production costs, including tax relief on equipment, low fertilisers/seeds prices, supply to supermarkets/Sathosa

Farmers’ groups urged the Government to take immediate measures to reduce the production cost of key crops, adding that unbearable costs have prompted an exodus of farmers from the agriculture sector.

The National Agrarian Unity organisation pointed out that concerns have been raised about paddy, potato, green gram, black-eyed pea, corn and big onion farmers leaving the agriculture sector.

Regarding the big onion sector, which is currently facing issues due to imported big onions, the organisation’s President Anuradha Thennakoon said that although local farmers used to fulfil around 85% of the country’s requirement about a decade ago, today, it has become impossible to meet the demand to that extent. Speaking to The Daily Morning, he claimed that at present, only around 5-10% of the country’s requirement is being met by local production. He added that in areas such as Dambulla, Sigiriya, and Galewela, key big onion farmers are already shifting to other crops as the big onion sector is collapsing.

“What needs to be done is reducing production costs through tax relief including those imposed on equipment, lowering the prices of fertilisers and seeds, and introducing a system for farmers to supply big onions to supermarkets or the Sathosa,” he said. 

Thennakoon cautioned that in this context, farmers are rapidly leaving the agriculture sector, leaving room for bigger concerns such as foreign firms invading local farmland and the wider agriculture sector. He expressed concerns about farmland becoming vacant and the risk of large-scale foreign agriculture companies leasing these lands long-term.