S. Jegadeeswaran (26), from Nedunkerny, Vavuniya North is a lucrative businessman - a producer and distributor of mixture-snack packets and fried yellow-gram (Kadala Parippu) packets under the brand name "S M Mauran Industries". Seven to eight people work in Mauran Industries, out of which four are girls packaging, labeling and sealing these snack packs using more than 130 kgs of gram a day. He distributes them in Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and Trincomalee in his three-wheeler.
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| D.Vijayaluxmi, war widow and mother of six children is involved in parboiling paddy |
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Selecting crabs at Iranaimatha Nagar Fisheries Cooperatives. Pix by Quintus Perera |
His house has been turned into a factory sans sophisticated machinery, not even an electric sealer to seal thousands of these packs. For sealing candle lights are used. Four huge woks with gallons of coconut oil, heated with firewood, used to fry several kilos of yellow gram, each day.
Mr Jegadeeswaran is one of the beneficiaries of a major Economic Development Project covering Vavuniya and Kilinochchi Districts implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) Sri Lanka - Project Local Empowerment through Economic Development (LEED) and financed to the tune of US$13 million by the Australian Government through Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). A team from the Business Times (BT) visited the ILO-led projects in Vavuniya and Kilinochchi during a 2-day tour.
At an impromptu briefing at the ILO Vavuniya Office, Joe Connolly, Chief Technical Advisor, LEED-ILO said that there is a possibility of extending the project to the Mullaitivu District too. If AusAID agrees, the project would be extended to another two years.
He said that the objective of the project is to promote inclusive economic development by creating decent jobs for all and ensuring sustainable livelihoods.
Its main partners are the Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC), small, medium and big enterprises, Ministry of Labour, Department of Cooperatives and the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL). An important feature of the ILO project is to establish partnerships with the North and the South of Sri Lanka and implementation through cooperatives.
The sectors covered during the 2-day tour were paddy, fruit & vegetable and fisheries where we were told that they would be connected to supply chains, production, processing and markets through producer associations, large companies, SMEs and trade chambers. The core basis is pro-poor policies and practices, extending the benefits to the members and the community. Involvement was explained of the cooperative centres, the paddy sector and fisheries sector with Neil Marine - a leading boat maker where the company trains youth from the Kilinochchi area including rehabilitated ex-LTTE combatants, to build boats in a boat manufacturing yard provided by the ILO. In Kilinochchi, the ILO also links the crab catchers with Taprobane Seafood - a leading crab-meat exporter in the area.
While enumerating the on-course progress the AusAID-ILO LEED project is making, Mr Connolly asserted that there are still major constraints and challenges such as abject poverty, establishment of property ownership and in some places the land-mines. ILO plans to set up a fruit processing plant in Omanthai, spending a large sum of money that could process several tons of fruit. With EFC, ILO expects to involve disabled people. A major employment slice is also offered to female headed households (war-widows). Mr Connolly said that around 250 fruit out-growers would float a company of their own. The BT met S. Selvarajah in Andar Puliankulam, Nedunkerny in his 'Red Lady' papaya cultivation of one acre with 625 trees. The harvest is to be reaped in one month's time with 60 kgs per tree at an average selling price of Rs 30 per kg, helping him to a tidy sum of Rs 1.12 million. There are 15 such papaya growers supported by the ILO.
The BT then met 32 year-old Erambu Lenin, a father of two, in Nedunkerny town, who runs a mechanical workshop. ILO has contributed Rs 603,000, 80% of the cost to put up the workshop. The Vavuniya North Multi-purpose Cooperative Society in Nedunkerny lost its paddy milling plant due to the conflict. Afterwards, the building was replaced by the Economic Development Ministry and the ILO under LEED provided equipment in a sum of Rs 13 million while the MPCS provided Rs 1.5 million. The mill could process 2.5 tons per hour. The BT saw a huge quantity of 'Red Nadu', a favourite in Jaffna, lined up for dispatch to Jaffna. D. Vijayaluxmi (40), a widow with six children, in Thuwaramkulam, Pattikudiiruppu, had a pathetic story to tell. She lost her husband as well as the husband of her 18-year old daughter, both who died in shelling. Earlier she worked as an agricultural labourer to feed her children and send them to school. ILO has provided necessary equipment to around 36 of such widows including Ms Vijayaluxmi to parboil paddy. They parboil 100 kgs per week and are paid Rs 5 per kg, an additional income of Rs 500 per week.
Driving to Kilinochchi, the BT team went through thick jungle, massive army camps but a few people, other than in small towns. The team reached Iranaimatha Nagar, Kilinochchi to meet the members of the Iranaimatha Nagar Fisheries Cooperative. They are involved in catching crabs in the Poonakaray Lagoon and are for export. Earlier their daily income was around Rs 100. During the conflict they were taken to Menik Farm as IDPs and when they returned after the conflict, all their fishing gear, boats, etc had disappeared. Subsequently, 25 boats were given to them by an NGO with government support.
Like in the Polonnaruwa area paddy cultivators, these fishermen too were obtaining loans from some businessmen from Mannar and Jaffna on the condition that their catch has to be sold to these businessmen at whatever price quoted by the buyer. Currently there are 325 members in this fisheries cooperative, and they are in a strong position to bargain. ILO has negotiated with a large-scale crab meat exporting firm and the cooperative sells the boiled crabs to this firm at a fixed pre-determined price.
At Iranaimatha Nagar we saw how crabs are brought, graded to large and small, weighed and boiled. The average income of the members today is around Rs 1,000. The cooperative employs 25 widows (female-headed households).
ILO plans to help more widows so that their families could be supported in turn. To further enhance the income of those involved catching crab, the ILO takes steps to set up a crab-meat processing plant which would be then leased to the company. When the processing plant is set up, they intend to employ more than 100 widows. There are more than 1,000 fishermen involved in crab farming and once the plant is set up the non-members too would benefit. In Jeyapuram, Kilinochchi the boat building yard is supported by ILO. The Poonakaray Fisheries Federation has representatives of 14 fishermen's cooperative societies and the Federation is running the boat yard. Eight youth are trained to operate boat building. ILO's contribution in this venture is Rs 13 million. Through the ILO Vavuniya Office, a serious and consistent supervision and monitoring is done to ensure the entire project is on-course and yields the desired results. Three officers - S. Vasu, S. Kiruja and Mohamed Farzan are looking after the Vavuniya sector while Kilinochchi is supervised by S. Thabesan. |
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