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Expert body to guide and promote food chain efficiency
A food security committee has been set up to monitor and control the production, harvest, distribution, and pricing of essential food items
Dickson Nilaweera
produced locally to create a balancing act between the consumer, producer and the trader, it was announced earlier this week.
The committee will comprise officials and experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, Mahaweli, Department of Agrarian Development, Paddy Marketing Board, CWE (Sathosa), selected academics from state universities, and representatives from the Statistics Department.
The newly appointed Food Security Minister and senior most UNP Parliamentarian- Gamini Jayawickrama Perera told the Sunday Times the move was aimed at creating discipline in the sector as well as ending corruption and other irregularities that occurred under the previous regime.
The main task of the committee, which will start work on Tuesday, is to collect data on production, demand and availability, changing price trends, and necessary imports among other matters, he said.
The committee that is set to meet once a week also hopes to educate farmers and producers on the variety of crops that should be selected for a particular season to prevent a glut into the market that will affect prices, Mr. Perera said.
Imports will be brought down to zero except in circumstances where local producers cannot meet the demand. However, this too would be allowed only after careful assessment and prior approval by the
Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera. Pic by Athula Devapriya
cabinet, he said.
The committee will also look into allegations of errant and corrupt officials allegedly linked to traders and businessman with a notoriety for hoarding and price fixing among other irregularities.
“I will closely examine all these areas. There will be no room for jokers. With the cooperation of the general public we will work towards instilling honesty and discipline in the area,” Minister Perera further said.
“There will be no ad hoc directives, because such decisions often lead to shortages, or over supply, confusion and eventually both the producer and the consumer are affected.
Recently the country witnessed hundreds of thousands of metric tons of perishable items, mainly vegetables and fruit being dumped as animal fodder mainly due to ill planning and ignorant assessment by the relevant authorities.
Unnecessary imports when local produce was adequate to meet the domestic demand and farmers not being properly advised on the type of crops they should have concentrated on were the main reasons for this scenario, the ministry’s chief advisor Dickson Nilaweera said.