Point
of View
Ensuring food security in Sri Lanka
By Prof. C. S. Weeraratna, Faculty of Agriculture, Rajarata University
The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Development, in an interview
in The Sunday Times of February 3 indicated that the present programmes
for food security are still in the primitive stage due to high electricity
and transport costs.
These factors may contribute to food security indirectly but our food
security level is low mainly because of the low level of domestic food
production. Food security at national level is determined mainly by the
level of local food production, and also by food import policies, availability
of foreign exchange to import food, natural disasters, peace and stability
in the country, etc. A colossal sum of money is spent annually to import
food most of which can be produced locally.
For example, in 2000, Rs. 10,777 million was spent on sugar, Rs. 8,946
million on milk and milk products, Rs. 286 million on rice and Rs. 561
million on wheat flour.
The annual production of rice and the extent cultivated under this crop
doesn't show any substantial increase during the last decade. The situation
of other food crops is also similar. In fact, the overall index of agricultural
production during the period 1987-1997, compared with that during the base
period 1977-79, has remained almost static.
If the total requirement of carbohydrates (cereals and sugar) of the
country is considered we are only around 50 percent self-sufficient. This
is very perilous and if a situation arises where we are unable to import
wheat, rice and sugar due to a shortage of foreign exchange or any other
calamity, there would be widespread starvation affecting the poor to a
greater extent.
Hence it essential that the Ministry of Agriculture implements appropriate
programmes to increase the level of food security in the country. A number
of factors affect domestic food production levels. Among these, high costs
of inputs, low productivity and marketing are the main limiting factors,
which the Ministry of Agriculture needs to make an attempt to resolve.
High cost of inputs
The minister in his interview has identified the high cost of production
as a limiting factor. High production costs of almost all crops have increased
during the recent past causing crop production to be an unprofitable venture.
The prices of most of the agricultural inputs, such as seeds/planting material,
pesticides, fertilizers have increased. Hence, it is important that the
ministry studies the factors responsible for high costs and takes action
to reduce the costs.
The present system of fertilizer subsidy is unsatisfactory as only urea
(nitrogen) is subsidised. As a result, farmers tend to apply more urea
which is cheaper, and this practice may even cause yield reduction. Either
all NPK fertilizers should be subsidised or the subsidy for urea should
be removed.
Low productivity
One of the main factors attributable to the declining production in the
agricultural sector is low productivity primarily due to soil degradation.
Low productivity with high cost of inputs cause the unit production cost
to go up making our crops more expensive. In fact, the prices of crops
such as rice, chillies, potato, etc produced in the country are the highest
in the region. It is important that appropriate land use systems are practiced
at least in degraded lands to increase their productivity.
Marketing
To make crop production profitable, farmers should get a reasonable price
for their products commensurate with cost of production.
However, marketing of agricultural products at a profit to the farmer
has become a constraint. Very often, middlemen tend to exploit farmers,
who sometimes are forced to dispose their products at almost the cost price.
An efficient marketing organisation is essential to minimize this exploitation
through appropriate market intervention.
The minister in his interview has indicated that the "SRI" system of
rice cultivation will give better results. True, it will give increased
yields but this system cannot be practiced extensively as the labour requirement
for this system is very high. It would be far better to identify the limiting
factors in the present system of paddy cultivation and improve on them
rather than trying to introduce a new system, which in any case cannot
be practiced by most farmers.
Raising milk output
Sri Lanka imports milk and milk food worth Rs. 9 billion annually and it
is good to note that the minister plans to increase milk production in
the country. The main limiting factors in this sector is the low productivity
of the cattle population, very low quality of pasture grass and high feed
costs.
Hence there must be a plan to upgrade the local cattle population and
grow better quality grass. Cattle/poultry feeds can be manufactured locally
as the raw materials are available within the country.
Hence, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development needs to
take action to promote the animal feed industry in the country, which if
properly developed will create more employment, increase the market for
maize and other seeds and also would reduce the cost of animal feeds.
Problem of unemployed grads
By Lal de Mel
(Chairman, Tha-runa Aruna Institute, Past President, Federation of Chambers
of Commerce and Industry )
The march by about 2,000 unemployed graduates to Temple Trees has once
again drawn the attention of the nation to the problem of unemployed graduates.
The poor command of English restricts their opportunities to secure employment
in the private sector or to consider foreign employment.
They have been denied the opportunity of studying in the English medium
or even acquiring proficiency in English. The universities have not provided
them free access to study English to the level of proficiency they wish
to acquire or to gain access to an English language self-learning centre.
Government legislation restricts the freedom of an individual to choose
the medium of instruction or the time allotted for the study of English
in our schools. This legislation is inconsistent with the Human Rights
Charter under which the parents have the right to choose the medium of
instruction of their children. This was a verdict given by the Supreme
Court of Tamilnadu state government when an attempt was made to restrict
the number of languages taught in Tamilnadu schools to two languages. I
have brought this court ruling to the attention of the President and the
Leader of Opposition, but nothing has been done to remove the offending
clause, perhaps because it needed an amendment to the Constitution.
Mr. W.J.M. Lokubandara when he was the Minister of Education invited
the private sector, represented by S.K. Wickrem-esinghe, C.P. de Silva
and me, and the University staff to discuss the poor command of English
by the undergraduates. He suggested the introduction of three subjects
and General English/General Knowledge as the fourth subject at university
entrance examinations. This proposal was welcomed by the private sector
delegates, but ultimately rejected by the academics. If focus on English
was introduced at that time, the problem of graduate unemployment would
have been much less.
In the absence of job mobility created by English language proficiency,
we need to carefully plan the intake of undergraduates to meet the local
market needs.
The Chambers of Commerce and Industry have been bringing to the notice
of the government the mismatch between the human resources needs of the
private sector and the quality of graduates produced by our State-run universities.
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has assisted several universities in commencing
career guidance units.
The Tharuna Aruna Institute (TAI) - a joint venture between four major
Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the government - gets the assistance
of the chambers of commerce and industry to provide placements in the private
sector.
At present there are 1,023 graduates following a 16-month training programme
in 617 companies. The government pays a trainee a stipend of Rs. 3,000
a month during the training period. The employers normally pay an additional
training allowance and at the end of the programme offer permanent employment
if the work is satisfactory and they need the services of the graduate.
The number of placements made by TAI has increased to over 100 a month,
with the recent decision to allow the profitable government-owned business
organisations to recruit graduates under the Tharuna Aruna programme. When
compared with the 4,270 graduates who registered with TAI in 2001 and 8,490
graduates awaiting placements, 100 placements a month is insufficient to
absorb the increased number of graduates entering the job market. A large
number of graduates are awaiting placements from the districts. TAI can
supply a breakdown of these figures by each university, to make the university
programmes of study more market oriented. The table given above indicates
the courses of study with a large number of graduates awaiting placements
and a district-based breakdown. TAI can supply a breakdown of this table
by each university, to make the university programmes of study more market-oriented.
Indian Cotton Textile Show
The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council of India in association with
the High Commission of India is organising "Indian Cotton Textile Show
2002" at the Taj Samudra hotel in Colombo between February 11 and 14.
Several large Indian companies like Arvind Mills, Oswal Cotton Mills,
Maral Overseas, Suryalakshmi Cotton Mills, Bharat Vijay Mills, Rainbow
Denim, Welspun, Super Spinning Mills, CLC Corporation, Western India Cotton,
Lahoti Overseas, Emtex Industries, Veera Exporters, Goodwill Enterprises,
Sri Lakshme Textiles and Sreekumar Texind Corporation will be exhibiting
a wide range of cotton and blended textiles, woven fabrics of twill, drill,
denim, dobby, satin, poplin, fine cotton shirting, Madras checks, prints,
canvas, furnishing fabrics, dress materials for ladies and children, home
textiles, knitted fabrics, besides cotton yarn of various counts in open
end and ring spun.
An Indian High Commission press release said that considering the recent
spurt in apparel exports from Sri Lanka, and the lifting of quotas for
exports to the European Union, this show is a well-timed event and will
provide a great opportunity for local apparel and textile manufacturers
to source their raw material requirements, primarily fabric and yarn, from
India.
The Indian cotton textile industry has certain unique advantages, which
have made India a major player in the world trade of cotton textiles. Availability
of wide varieties of raw cotton along with low cost of production has enabled
India to emerge as an extremely competitive supplier in cotton dominated
products.
The statement said India is today the second largest supplier of cotton
textiles with a share of 14 percent of the world market. It is one of top
ten suppliers of processed and grey fabric, besides being number one and
two in cotton yarn and cotton made-ups suppliers respectively in the global
market. India's historical growth in cotton textile exports of six percent
in the last five years has been significantly superior to the world average
of 2 percent and that of its competitors like China and Pakistan.
Informatics in software deal with Australian firm
Informatics (Pvt) Ltd, a Sri Lankan IT firm, has signed a contract recently
to establish an offshore software development centre with Parcelhouse,
a global Information Solutions provider based in Australia and Sweden.
A company press release said Parcelhouse was so impressed by the standard
of the computer professionals working at Info-rmatics that they selected
them over other Indian IT companies after going through a vigorous selection
criteria.
"This resulted in their decision to work with Informatics and to establish
their software development arm in Sri Lanka.
Informatics will be developing a web-based transport, logistics and
fulfilment processing system, which will eventually be deployed in transport
and warehousing companies around the world.
According to the agreement, Inf-ormatics will be responsible for marketing
of this product in Sri Lanka and in the Asian Region," it said.
Gamini Wickr-amasinghe, Managing Director of Infor-matics Group, said
the partnership would help global transport and logistic companies – via
Sri Lankan developed software - to simplify complex information.
Parcelhouse is an organisation engaged in providing IT solutions to
transport and logistics companies worldwide and is privileged to provide
their solutions to industry giants like DHL International and Tetra Pak
International.
Informatics has well-established joint venture projects with companies
in Sweden and Norway for software development.
They also have a varied clientele in diverse industry sectors, including
international customer bases in Pakistan, Maldives, UK, USA, Germany, Netherlands
and Bangladesh. |
