Sri Lanka anticipates possible food shortages as recent flash floods have decimated crops at a time of high prices and left a quarter of the country under water. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has warned that natural disasters could lead to a global food crisis in the coming years. He has ordered a contingency national plan to avert an impending food crisis, stating that other countries in South Asia similarly facing food shortages were not in a position to help Sri Lanka . Official estimates say Sri Lanka is in danger of losing as much as 20 per cent of its harvest from the torrential rains.
From a Sri Lankan viewpoint 34% of the population are involved in agriculture. 80% are rural based and agriculture is very close to their hearts but only 15% of our GDP comes from agriculture. Therefore, the percentage of GDP of the rural population is much lower than the town percentages. If you look at Sri Lankan agriculture, we need to look at the major crop: paddy and subsidiary crops, including maize, cowpea, green gram, as well as vegetables and fruits for our consumption.
Under this set up the Bank of Ceylon, (BoC) the bankers to the nation, has stepped into promote one million home economic unit initiative of the government and to strengthen agricultural, fishery, livestock development, milk production, cultivation of additional food crops, self-employment, export agricultural crops, home gardening and other economic oriented activities. The BoC is extending financial assistance to low income earning people to encourage them in self employment, agriculture and horticulture in a bid to allow the benefits of development trickle down to grassroots, said Sam Samarasinghe, Bank of Ceylon Deputy General Manager, Product & Development Banking, in an exclusive interview with Sunday Times Freehold section.
He disclosed that the (BoC) has introduced a new credit scheme to provide financial assistance to rural sector with special emphasis to start and maintain home gardening, self employment and any income generating activity that can be commenced with family members. The objective of this novel initiative is to make self-sufficient the villages in vegetables, fruits and other food crops utilizing rural resources and manpower to up lift the living standard of rural community. In addition to rice, various other food crops are produced for local consumption. They include yams, pulses, grains, vegetables, and fruits. Most of these crops are cultivated in family gardens, except for potatoes and sugarcane. Sugar cane is cultivated in the dry zone, and Sri Lanka produces only 15 percent of what it consumes domestically.
The villagers were used to culltivate vegetables and other food crops in their backyard popularly known as "ovita" for their own consumption and to sell excess to meet their other essential needs. The BoC will reinvigorate the "ovita" cultivation engaging rural youth in modern organic sustainable farming by providing them with financial assistance paving the way for them to become agri entrepreneurs, he said. A loan facility ranging from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 500,000 will be granted at an interest rate of 9% with a repayment period of 3 to 5 years including a grace period of 6 months, through BoC bank branches countrywide for home gardening self employment and any income generating activity under this scheme, he revealed.
A model home gardening project following the traditional ovita cultivation concept using sustainable farming technology is now implemented in Nochchiyagama in the Anuradhapura District . Drip irrigation system and organic fertilizer will be used for these cultivations , Mr . Samarsinghe said. "Our aim is to give some recognition who engage in farming while encouraging them to become agri entrepreneurs" he added. 150 model home gardens of ¼ or ½ an acre each will be started in the area he, revealed. The project will be inaugurated during Deyata Kirula exhibition in the area next year he added. The aim is to create value added farming enterprises in rural areas he said.
This BoC initiative will facilitate the government's one million housing economic units programme to strengthen the domestic economy, optimum usage of land availability and other resources, improving the cottage industry, improving the nutritional standards of the rural populations, and protection of environment, among other things, Mr. Samarasinghe said. Agriculture, industries, self employment, fisheries, livestock, small crops, animal husbandry, dairy industries and home garden will thus be strengthened with the direct support of the Government, he said. The BoC has stepped into further strengthened this initiative he added.
Plants are crucial for the welfare of human survival. They help ecosystem function. They provide us with oxygen to breathe, medicine, clothing fibre and, importantly, food. Out of the 7,000 species of plants currently used for agriculture around the planet, only 30 crops make up the world's diet. Wheat, corn and rice alone account for more than half of the world's food consumption. Did you ever stop to think about what might happen if these crops disappeared? Right now, for example, our wheat and rice supplies are dwindling. The world's stockpiles are at their lowest levels in thirty years. Consumption is exceeding production, and farmers are having a tough time keeping up.
Considering all these aspects, the BOC has introduced the "rice bank" concept similar to minting of a savings account . Grains are "deposited" into secure storage with the intention of "withdrawing" them in the future when they are needed. Just as you might keep money saved for an unforeseen emergency, Mr. Samarasinghe explained. A grain bank was set up in Siyambalanduwa in the Ampara district by the BOC as a pilot project, he disclosed. 25 such banks would be set up island wide he said. The Ruhuna rice bank will be opened within three months. It has allocated Rs.60 - 80 million for each of these projects he revealed. There are facilities to store paddy and grain like cowpea, green gram etc at these banks with modern facilities. Farmers will have to lodge their harvested commodity (paddy) at the rice bank and the bank will issue the Bill of Commodity Received (BCR) which is a negotiable instrument .The farmer has options of resubmitting the BCR to the rice bank and get either cash or paddy equivalent to the value lodged at the market rate or to the BOC , Paddy marketing Board , Paddy Millers and Whole Sale Buyers to get cash or credit facilities. Rice Bank is a special project which aims to break the vicious cycle of debt of our farmers in our villages for the most basic commodity in life he said. The rice bank concept is aimed at, reducing the need to take out high-interest loans by farmers during periods of food shortage. Rice banks are built in a central community area and given a base stock of rice. Farmers deposit a percentage of their own harvest into the rice bank, which the entire community can then draw on when needed.
"At the Bank of Ceylon, we are emphatic towards the needs of the villagers. Our wide network helps us to know the realities of suburban and rural life. Our staff has long stopped thinking of villages as just peaceful havens where people live simple lives and where the air is pure,"Mr. Samarasinghe said. They perform a unique role in the financial industry of Sri Lanka and provide a wide range of services to a range of customers spanning diverse social segments. BOC also aims to uplift the standards of the rural people and have designed many innovative credit schemes as well as training initiatives for this cause. Most of the BoC's development work is very much in line with the Mahinda Chinthana's pro-poor and pro-growth policy framework. The Mahinda Chinthana highlights that banking and financial sectors should be strengthened and encourages such establishments to direct funds towards rural development.
While being a catalyst for equitable development covering urban and especially rural areas, BOC plays multiple roles in achieving its set objectives. Functioning as a development bank as well as a commercial bank, Bank of Ceylon stands tall with its plethora of development schemes Such work is of great importance to the development of the country as nearly 80% of Sri Lanka 's population is considered rural. Six million people live below the poverty line and over 1.2 million live below the ultra poverty line he said. |
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