Food crisis: Worst-hit citizens in SL cities
Sri Lanka’s city dwellers are likely to be the worst hit by the impending food shortage for which the government is currently making plans to address by prioritising rice imports and expecting its citizens to have a change in their current consumption pattern.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday, chairing a meeting on the future food crisis in Sri Lanka, had asserted that it will be the city dwellers that will be mainly affected by the impending food shortage likely to hit the country after October.
One of the largest communities in the country that will be at the receiving end of the food shortage in Sri Lanka will be those living in the city, he said. With cultivation mainly carried out in the suburbs and countryside the government wants to ensure improved connectivity to bring the produce to the cities.
In Colombo it was pointed out that the growing number of condominium type housing scheme dwellers will be deprived of adequate quantities of food.
In this respect, the Prime Minister had requested the Colombo Mayor Rosy Senanayake present at the discussion to ensure cultivation of some kinds of produce in home gardens by households.
Peradeniya University Snr. Prof. Buddhi Marambe speaking at the meeting had raised concerns about the impending food scarcity after October; and with rice being the staple diet the government will have to ready plans to import adequate stocks at least until March next year.
“If consumption patterns are changed then the import quantities will be less and the import costs will also reduce,” he said. He noted that in the first month of the crisis in October the need will be for only part of the total quantity required per month.
Sri Lanka requires 195, 000 MT of rice per month that needs to be imported but this amount can be reduced if the consumption pattern of the citizens change.
Prof. Marambe pointed out that with the minimum foreign exchange earnings made, the country will be compelled to prioritise on the import of rice to feed its people.
Sri Lanka will run out of its own stocks of rice by October as it faced a complete ban on chemical imports and fertiliser last year as the country’s agriculture policy took a u-turn virtually overnight towards purely organic farming.
He noted that the new budget will need to prioritise for rice and fertiliser imports as the political hierarchy has now understood the situation.
Moreover, Prof. Marambe said if Sri Lankans make an effort to consume a combination of different types of foods seasonally available like Jak without solely depending on rice for their staple diet it will help to reduce the total rice imports required per month.
During the meeting he had also stressed the need to focus on purchasing fertiliser for the Maha season as time is running out for cultivation in the current Yala season.
He also noted that quick-maturing types of crops like mung bean and cowpea can act as an alternative food in a bid to overcome the shortage of rice.
The meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office in Colombo was attended by Cabinet ministers including the newly-appointed Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, University dons, the private sector and state agriculture officials.
The Sunday Times last week reported the Prime Minister’s request to set up a Parliamentary Select Committee to ascertain those responsible for the
economic crisis.
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