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Eating croton and jak leaves: I was misquoted, says Agri DG
A distortion of parts of a presentation he delivered at a workshop is being used by those with a political agenda, Director General (DG)- Dept of Agriculture, Dr. Rohan Wijekoon charged.
A statement attributed to the DG, telling people to eat croton and jak leaves during the drought, has caused widespread controversy over the past few weeks.
At the ‘Peraliyaka Erambuma’ protest rally organised by the Joint Opposition in Nugegoda on Friday (27), many participants held up jak and croton leaves to ridicule the Government. Even some Government ministers have come out against the DG.
Cabinet Spokesman Minister Rajitha Senaratne told journalists on Wednesday that, if someone from his Ministry said such a thing, he would make him eat croton and jak leaves first.
Dr Wijekoon, however, told the Sunday Times, the statement was a distortion of a presentation he made at a two-day workshop held under the theme, “Conservation and Utilization of Local Varieties, Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Resources and Agriculture.” Dr Wijekoon, who delivered the inaugural address, said he had discussed the importance of utilising traditional knowledge to mitigate the effects of climate change.
With several Japanese experts attending the workshop, he had alluded to how the Japanese had come up with various food items during the difficult years after the war and how the country now had the largest diversity in leafy vegetables. “Sri Lanka has the highest density in biodiversity and I invited the farmers, researchers, university academics and NGO representatives present to come up with various traditional recipes using local knowledge,” he stressed.
According to Dr. Wijekoon, the home garden is the best place to mitigate the effects of climate change and the drought situation, as one has control over what one grows there. “We do eat Japan Batu, young jak fruit leaves and young croton leaves. This is traditional knowledge. I was talking about diversity of food.”
Dr. Wijekoon explained that the controversy arose when he gave a brief Sinhala translation for local farmers who were present. “As my presentation was in English, I thought it better to later give a brief translation in Sinhala for the benefit of the farmers. The media people were also there at the time and they only took the part where I was explaining about the different types of leaves that can be eaten.”
Opining there was a political agenda behind the controversy, the DG further revealed that he spoke personally with President Maithripala Sirisena and Agriculture Minister Duminda Dissanayake, after it was highlighted in the media.
“The President and my minister know the whole story. Unfortunately, some ministers who haven’t seen my presentation are still making various accusations,” he observed, adding that the entire video of the presentation is available on his Facebook page should anyone wish to check.