Agriculture a key component of Government policy
Considering the culture and history of agriculture in this country and the fact that most Sri Lankans are involved in agriculture, a key focus in the national economy should be agriculture and that has been spelt out in the policies of the present governent, according to President Maithripala Sirisena. Speaking as Chief Guest at the Cargills ‘Saru Bima Farmer Citizens Awards 2015″ held at the BMICH last Sunday, he thus complimented Cargills for contributing to the national economy through agriculture and for strengthening the market to meet the consumer requirements.
He said that a few decades earlier, the world was divided into two camps – one propagating a government-controlled closed economy and the other campaigning for a free market economy. But, today, he said, countries are realising that a culmination of both these aspects – state and private sector – should work closely together to create an ideal base for a sound economy of any country.
President Sirisena said that going by this norm in the last few decades this country’s government policy has been to strengthen the state enterprises as well as the private sector. He said that towards this end, all necessary encouragement, facilities and sponsorship are extended towards strengthening all facets of the economy – state sector, private sector, investments and the market.
The ‘Saru Bima’ scheme initiated by Cargills in 2008 in Thanamalwila is to save 50 cents from every kilo of vegetable and fruits purchased from the farmer and utilise this to award scholarships for the children of farmers and other community service for the farmers. This scheme operates in five locations but now has been extended to all the Cargills collecting centres which would benefit around 10,000 farmer families spread around the country.
On this occasion 200 such scholarships were given to university, advanced level, ordinary level and Grade 5 students while 500 farmers received medical insurance policies.
Commencing this year Cargills also felicitated ‘Good Farmer Citizens’ with 10 years’ experience in farming and who demonstrated exceptional ways of life and work towards good sustainable agricultural practices. Eighteen farmers were felicitated.
Ranjith Page, Deputy Chairman/Group CEO, Cargills Group, told the Business Times on the sidelines of the event that they are also very much concerned about the farmers’ health with research showing that excessive use of fertilisssser could affect health.
Excessive fertiliser used particularly in the upcountry is washed off to streams and thereby the entire water table could be polluted and this may be one of the causes for the kidney diseases. He said that farmers use fertiliser freely at their discretion and sometimes much higher than what is required.
He said that along with the Department of Agriculture they are now taking steps to test the soil and to recommend to the farmers the exact requirement of fertiliser that a particular soil needs. They are also taking steps to educate the farmers as to how the fertiliser should be used.
Haridas Fernando, Deputy General Manager, Agri Business, Cargills told this newspaper that throughout they have successfully developed markets for farmers. He said that the norms that had been prevalent in the agricultural sector today from the farmer to the consumer is that 40 per cent go waste, 30 per cent is grabbed by the middleman and only 30 per cent of the value goes to the farmer.
Under the Cargills model, he said that the 40 per cent waste is reduced to around 4 per cent and the middleman is completely eliminated. The benefits accrued by their process are shared by them and the farmer now gets around 45 to 55 per cent of the value of their produce.