Why another sugar cane project in an elephant area? Why wean paddy farmers from their fields? Why sugar at all? 

Here we go again

By Tharuka Dissanaike

The Chief Minister has had discussions with a Pakistani company (no name given) about the possibility of establishing a sugar factory in Anuradhapura. The press release said that the discussions were successful and the Pakistani delegation responded positively to investing in Sri Lanka. The foreign party would invest as much as Rs. 3 billion in the factory, to be located in Talawa, on the Maho-Anuradhapura Road.

The Pakistan firm had stated that for the project to succeed it would require at least 10,000 hectares under sugar cane cultivation. The Chief Minister has agreed to make the required land available from the fertile areas of Nochchiyagama, Rajanganaya and Tantirimalai. 

The project would supply jobs to more than 50,000 youth, who could contribute as out-growers, the statement justified. "We hope to give farmers a better deal through sugar cane than the instability regarding paddy prices." 

An overwhelming sense of deja vu surrounds what appears at first glance to be an incredible boon to the under-developed Anuradhapura district. 

Names like Sevanagala, Kantale, Hingurana and Pelwatte come to mind. Aren't these the same excuses touted by bureaucrats when they allowed the disastrous Pelwatte Sugar Company to change Wellawaya into a sugar cane area. The project appears to raise more questions than answers. 

Why another sugar cane project in an elephant area? Why wean paddy farmers from their fields? Why sugar at all? 

Sugar factories, even age-old ones like Kantale and Hingurana, never performed well in Sri Lanka. The low productivity and high fertiliser costs made production unviable in a market environment that imported sugar at several rupees cheaper per kilo. 

The extent of environmental devastation caused by the plantations makes the entire operation questionable. Its negative impacts appear to far outweigh the positive contribution to society.

Environmentalists and wildlife officials blanch at the very thought of sugar cane cultivations encompassing Rajangana, Nochchiyagama and Talawa. Putting a sugar cane cultivation in the midst of elephant country, in an area that is already plagued by huge man-elephant conflict issues, would result in a 'nightmare situation', a Wild Life Department official said.

By the magnitude of the investment, the Pakistani sugar project compares with the giant Pelwatte Sugar Company. In 1981 the company began production by clearing over 11,000 hectares of prime elephant habitat for sugar cane cultivation. It also settled 1000 out-grower families in its farm area. 

Even at the very inception the firm, aware that it cannot compete with world market prices asked the government for a guaranteed purchase price of US $ 500 per metric ton. After this agreement lapsed a few years ago, the government was forced to agree to pay Pelwatte Sugar the price difference between their cost of production (Rs. 25) and the sale price of Rs. 19-20. 

By this time Pelwatte Sugar had made such an impact on the rural economy of Wellawaya and Buttala, that it had the power to dictate terms to the government. It was impossible to erase the looming presence of the sugar factory from the map of the area. Today the company has seen the government in court for not paying up the dues.

So why sugar? Why a crop that has successively proven to be a failure? Why a crop that has created more problems than solutions elsewhere in the country?

While producing sugar is a losing game, manufacturing alcohol is certainly a profitable venture. Many sugar factories keep their balance sheets straight by turning the waste molasses into cane spirit. 

The Rs. 500 million state-of-the-art distillery at Pelwatte began operations in September 1997. Other sugar factories have their own distilleries, making a final profit, where a pure sugar operation would show certain losses.

But most striking is the elephant issue. Pelwatte's biggest headache and loss of popularity were due to elephants. Having conquered the land from the elephants, the company gave the matter little thought. As years ticked by with more settlements and many more acres of sugar cane, the problem came to a head. Elephant upon elephant died of gunshot injuries in the thick sugar cane fields. Villagers were killed by angered beasts whose path to the Handapanagala tank was blocked by the plantations.

So acute was the problem that a President-appointed committee mulled over possible solutions for months. The subsequent elephant drive in August 1996 cost a whopping Rs. 80 million, most of which came from Pelwatte Sugar, eager to rid itself of the beasts. But the drive failed miserably, as just months afterwards, the elephants returned to their familiar tank-habitat with uncanny precision and a humiliating disregard for flimsy man-made fences and trenches meant to contain the herd inside the Yala National Park.

Pelwatte Sugar spends Rs. 20 million every year to maintain the electric fence that protects its core plantation from depredation.

Coming back to Anuradhapura, fears run high that the situation regarding elephants would be the same if not worse here. "This is an area that is threatened by many forces. Elephants that used to live in extensive jungles in the Wanni and Wilpattu have now moved to smaller jungle patches adjoining villages because of the fear of bombs, mines and shooting," said a senior official of the Wild Life Department. "Already the incidence of conflict, breaking into homesteads and cultivations is very high. Cultivating sugar will be an open invitation to the elephants to plunder. It is just easy food. If this sugar factory comes, we can foresee huge problems for wild life officials in the area."

It is difficult to justify a huge agri-industrial project of this nature, given the previous failures and the damage wreaked upon the environment. Even though the Chief Minister promises high income, land, fertiliser concessions and stable prices, the lesson of Pelwatte would have us remember that it is these very people that the benevolent politician sets out to help, who will suffer the worst from angered elephants.

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