EU pledges support on branding Lankan food overseas

The European Union is pledging 4 million Euros to Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector in 2007 to support a branding exercise coupled with the establishment of a food traceability system, that would enable local agriculture produce to penetrate global markets.

This comes on the back of the establishment of the National Farmers Council (NFC) which aims to give the six-million strong farming community a unified voice. Speaking at the inauguration of the NFC, Roshan Lymen from the EU Sri Lanka and Maldives office based in Colombo noted that focus would be on the island’s agriculture sector for the next three years, starting 2007. Lymen said that the EU is looking to identify various clusters within the sector and upgrade production the process. Assistance would be granted in enhancing post-harvesting techniques, value additions and also food safety compliance measures. “If you want to export, especially to the EU you have to comply with certain standards such as the HACCP,” he said. Lymen also noted that an energetic branding strategy partnered by a food traceability system which would source the product right to its original location of cultivation, would enhance the marketability of local agriculture goods in the international market. “The NFC system would facilitate this process of upgrading the entire production process,” he said.

The NFC is the brainchild of the National Agribusiness Council (NAC) and is partnered by the Ministry of Agriculture Development. The plan is to bring together regional farmers’ association via district councils which in turn would be represented at the NFC via the district presidents. Chairman of the NAC Mario de Alwis said that the NFC would enable the private sector to build partnerships with farmers so that the entire supply chain becomes a cohesive unit. “Currently there are gaps in the supply chain which means the standard price of a kilo of vegetables does not get communicated to the farmer. This gap has allowed the farmer to be manipulated by middle men,” he said.

Director of Export Agriculture at the Ministry of Agriculture Development Dr. D.B.T Wijeratne noted that the government too has identified the need to focus on small scale farmers and to merge their production efforts. “Drawing from the Thailand model of ‘one product- one tam boon’ such a merger would enable the production of large quantities of few products from an identified area,” he said. Dr. Wijeratne noted that the NFC would be an ideal platform to establish such a structure which would ease the collection, transportation and storage process as well as minimise post-harvest destruction. (MA)