Adequate supplies of food for everybody in the world has been a major issue in the world and many countries individually have been grappling to sustain the challenges they are often encountered with. In a backdrop of the world’s poor rising where around one billion go hungry every day, and to coincide with the World [...]

Feeds Editorials Times Online

The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Food for the rich and poor, how prices affect these two segments

By Quintus Perera
View(s):

Adequate supplies of food for everybody in the world has been a major issue in the world and many countries individually have been grappling to sustain the challenges they are often encountered with.

In a backdrop of the world’s poor rising where around one billion go hungry every day, and to coincide with the World Food Day, Sri Lanka held a National Conference on food and nutrition security last week in Colombo. It was jointly organized by CIC Holdings PLC , a corporate entity involved in agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Though Sri Lanka has taken major steps towards developing agriculture as a priority, the country is facing a dilemma. Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Planning and Ministry of Economic Development said that the world is faced with remarkable challenges – one is where the rich and the affordable want food while at the same time there is a segment of the population who cannot have food as they cannot afford it.

He said that these poor people do not even understand the difference between quality and nutrition. The world is looking at those who cannot afford food as well as those who are demanding a large quantity of food because of their affordability, Dr Jayasundera said. Sri Lanka too has a segment of the population who demand quality food as they can afford it as well as a large segment who cannot have food because they are poor and that is the dilemma, he pointed out.

Dr Jayasundera said CIC Chairman B.R.L. Fernando made a big contribution to the development not only to agriculture, but also to the other areas such as livestock and aquaculture which is a notable contribution by the private sector to the economy.

The 100,000 home garden units is rapidly increasing and Dr Jayasundera pointed out that it is essential to ensure that everybody has some micro level food security.

He said that Mr Fernando was providing leadership in a truly agrarian corporate entity manner and in his farms they were not limited to only agriculture, but there is livestock, poultry and aquaculture.

Dr Jayasundera wished the same methods adopted in the state farms too integrated with livestock and aquaculture.

He said that in additions to the incentives offered by the government, the state is promoting seed paddy, onion seeds, soya seeds and a variety of other seeds and other planting material.

Dr Jayasundera said that the fertilizer subsidy has issues. The government spends one per cent of the GDP for the fertilizer subsidy and said that like the free education and free medical care, this should also be something free for the farming community.

CIC Chairman Mr. Fernando, in his opening remarks said that in the world food prices structure it is the mobility that makes the biggest impact as in terms of world prices, 70 per cent of the price is attributed to transport.

Therefore, the government’s backyard home gardening is unique that it attacks this 70 per cent transport cost. “You got a situation where you do not have to transport your vegetables but it is almost free from your backyard,” Mr Fernando quipped.

Quoting an American book which he has read, Mr Fernando said that the authors of that book has suggested that if the abandoned buildings and the rooftops of high rise buildings in New York are utilized for vegetable cultivation, they could supply the needs of the whole New York city.

He revealed the high efficiency of the private sector when he said that when they took over the Hingurakgoda farm from the government only 500 acres were cultivated with paddy, but they cultivated 1,400 acres in Yala and Maha both seasons and the paddy yields then were around 50 bushels per acre while the yields now are 160 to 170 bushels per acre with good varieties of seed paddy being produced.

He said that there are many issues with regard to agriculture and said that water is a major issue and it is no longer freely available. He said that earlier a ton of fertilizer was around US$70 to 80 whereas today it has shot up to $450 per ton. Fertilizer efficiency in the country is only 30 per cent, Mr Fernando indicated.

The high yield they were obtaining, he said, is attributed to, in addition to seed paddy, using the required quantity of fertilizer. Earlier the organic content in the soil was only one per cent but the company increasingly used animal dirt and through that the organic content in the soil was increased to 4 per cent.

They have shown the way for the farmers where they have been advocating a total solution for the farmer, such as aquaculture and animal breeding in addition to paddy cultivation. The gains by the farmer through the CIC contribution in advising the correct method of fertilizer application and good seed paddy has made the former richer through cash and additional crops.

Another major point Mr Fernando raised was the compost and indicated that this is a necessity. He said that Colombo produced 800 tons of waste but 640 tons out of it is just water and organic matter. Just converting it to compost would save the transport cost and this could be thus be used for home gardening.




Share This Post

DeliciousDiggGoogleStumbleuponRedditTechnoratiYahooBloggerMyspace
comments powered by Disqus

Advertising Rates

Please contact the advertising office on 011 - 2479521 for the advertising rates.