Too many farmers in Sri Lanka?
The gist of Prof. Sirimal Abeyratne’s piece titled “Netherlands farmers and Sri Lankan doctors” in the Business Times last week is that (i) the productivity of Sri Lankan farmers is low compared to those in the Netherlands, (ii) that we have too many farmers and (iii) the scale of production of Sri Lankan farmers is comparatively low.
File picture of a water lily in a pond. A persistent drought in the dry zone has badly affected farmers.
The low productivity of most of our farmers is due to a number of factors. Most farmers have to face droughts which seriously affect production. There are nearly 12,000 tanks in the dry zone which collect rainwater to be used for crop and animal production and various domestic activities. These tanks play a dominant role in the socio-economic and cultural aspects of villages. Most of the 12,000 tanks are not distributed randomly, but in the form of distinct cascades each made up of 4-10 small tanks situated within a single small catchment of 100-1000 hectares. Water shortage which the farmers in the dry zone face can be partly attributed to the inability of the governments from 1977 to rehabilitate most of these tanks. Due to this, it is estimated that around 60 per cent out of the 100 billion cubic metres of rain water received annually escape to the sea, although we often speak of the famous dictum of King Parakramabahu I – “let not even one drop of water that falls on the earth in the form of rain be allowed to reach the sea without being used”.
Seeds and planting material
Most of the seeds (eg. onion, potato, vegetable) used by the farmers are imported, often of poor quality and are susceptible to many bacterial and fungal diseases and also to insect attacks.
Soil degradation
Soil degradation is also a factor which causes low productivity in most of our farms. Land degradation is a common occurrence in many parts of the country and is due to many factors such as soil erosion, soil compaction, nutrition depletion, development of salinity or acidity, loss of bio-diversity, etc. Soil erosion which is evident in many parts of the country is the main factor responsible for land degradation. During the last few decades attempts have been made by successive governments to control land degradation. There are many ministries, departments and other institutions which are expected to look into land degradation and take appropriate control measures. There are ministers at provincial level who are expected to take relevant action to control land degradation. During the last few decades Parliament has passed many laws to control land degradation. A large number of seminars and workshops have been held on this topic. In spite of all this, land degradation continues to take place evident by the common occurrence of landslides, depleted top soil, siltation of tanks, and reservoirs, decline in crop yields, etc.
Elephant attacks
Almost daily we hear about deaths to many people and destruction to crops/property caused by wild elephants. Most of the people affected are farmers in a number of districts of the country. As a result the productivity of most farms tends to be negatively affected.
Chronic Kidney Disease
Around 50,000 people, mostly farmers, in a number of districts are affected by the kidney disease called CKDu, and on an average three or four people die daily because of this disease. The families of those affected by CKDu are desperate. In some families both parents have died and their children are helpless. Inability of the farmers to attend to farming activities due to CKDu tend to have a negative effect on the productivity of farms.
Thus, low productivity of most of our farms is due to inability of the authorities to take appropriate action which will address the issues related to low-productivity.
Marketing
Prof. Abeyratne has also highlighted the issues related to marketing the farm produce. A few decades ago there were a few state organisations such as the Marketing Department which made it possible for the farmers to sell their produce at a reasonable price. These organisations are no more and at present farmers have to depend on middle-men who buy the produce at very low pieces. There are no proper marketing facilities discouraging most farmers and have a negative effect on their productivity
Too many farmers
In Sri Lanka there are 2 million farmers and Prof. Abeyratne appears to be of the opinion that we have too many of them. If a substantial number of farmers moves away from the agriculture sector what are they going to do? Become security officers or three wheel drivers? If the 2 million farmers can be engaged in more productive farming and agro-industries it will enable us to reduce our annual foreign exchange expenditure on food imports which at present is around Rs. 200 billion.
Scale of production
Prof. Abeyratne appears to be of the view that when the scale of production is too small each farmer produces too little. This does not necessarily have to be so. Even if the farm size is small there can be intensive production and family labour can be made use reducing COP. A good example is seen in the tea sector. The average area of a tea smallholding is about 0.43 ha and the average tea yield of the smallholder sector is around 1600 kg/ha. In the large tea estates which are more than 20 ha, the average tea yield is around 1400 kg/ha.
(The writer is former Professor at Ruhuna and Rajarata Universities. He can be reached at csweera@sltnet.lk)