Agriculture needs a serious shift in policy
View(s):Suresh Shah said there’s a need to build an export oriented economy. If there is a good system of governance in the country, while letting the businesses carry out their affairs (sans interference), then the private sector can contribute much more to this economy.
“As an example, the Mahaweli project gave three acres per person with 1 acre to build their house and the rest for agriculture; now it is down to 1 acre per person for both living and livelihood. These deeds are not ‘bankable’,” he said.
“We need to be able to give them deeds to these plots which will allow them to sell it to another who can secure a larger acreage and then turn them into more productive pieces of land. Also the mechanization process in terms of agriculture is important. We cannot have 30 per cent employed in agriculture. We need to shift this segment into more productive areas,” he said.
Rev. Wimalaratana noted that since they (villagers) don’t have other options they are forced to be employed in the agricultural sector which is not fair.
Dr. Ariyaratne noted that the new coalition’s political, economic and social ideologies are not compatible but said he saw this as an opportunity to find common ground.
He was very worried about the swift polarisation that has come up with the voting patterns recently (where it is widely believed that the Northern votes were responsible for electing the new president).
“Hopefully this will not be picked up by those with vested interests and targeted in a harmful manner. We have had enough racial and ethnic dis-harmony for so long that we don’t need to go down that road anymore,” he said.
He noted that the elections proved the importance of both state and private sector media. The media’s role as a watchdog has to be strengthened and widening of this debate is important. Values and ethics in media have to be resurrected.
“The media needs to redemocratise itself. It needs to be non-partisan and apolitical,” he said.