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6.3 million people food insecure; urgent assistance needed
View(s):- Sudden transition to organic agriculture put farming in a mud hole; food security nosedive needs to be controlled
By Tharushi Weerasinghe
Sri Lankans are reeling from the effects of a severe economic crisis, with rising costs causing a food shortage that is being compounded by the fall in food production largely due to the previous government’s failed attempt at a transition into organic farming.
Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s chemical fertiliser ban which was imposed in April last year, spelled disaster for local farmers who lamented that their livelihoods and the food security of the nation would suffer from the sudden and drastic measure. While the ban was revoked one year ago, farming has suffered as consecutive Maha and Yala season harvests deteriorated from the sudden disruption. Yields came down by nearly 50%, farmers complained.
A new joint report by the World Food Programme and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN FAO) revealed that about 6.3 million people in Sri Lanka were food insecure. About 30 percent of the people were experiencing acute food insecurity and the crisis would probably deteriorate unless urgent assistance was provided.
The Joint WFP and FAO Crop and Food Assessment Mission (CFSAM) report, noted that two consecutive seasons of poor harvests led to the massive drop in production coupled with reduced imports of food grains due to foreign exchange constraints.
“We were self-sufficient where rice was concerned until 2021,” an Agriculture Ministry official noted.
Sri Lanka’s annual rice requirement stood at 2.4 Mn metric tonnes and yearly production yielded 3.3 Mn metric tonnes. Though the ban only lasted a few months, it broke this self-sufficiency down completely, the official said.
But some experts observed that the 180-degree turn and equally drastic return to chemical fertiliser could yet spell more disaster for Sri Lanka’s long-term food security and its upcoming climate commitments. But the Agriculture Ministry Secretary insisted Sri Lanka would not be reverting from its use of chemical fertilisers anytime soon.
“We can decide whether we want to go hungry or take care of climate change,” the secretary said.
“The decline of soil fertility is a bigger problem than we realise,” said Dr. G.V. Ramanjaneyulu, an agriculture scientist from the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture at Hyderabad in India. The scientist spoke to the Sunday Times on the global south’s move towards organic farming, and where developing countries, Sri Lanka in particular, go wrong.
“Sustainable agriculture refers to production practices that are both economically and ecologically sustainable. Economic at the household levels so farmers’ livelihoods are sustained, and ecological in the sense that natural resources are preserved so food production systems are maintained for generations to come,” he said.
Food production has dropped by 50%
But a growing pattern among developing countries ws the reduction of soil organic matter caused by prolonged use of chemical fertilisers with little to no mechanisms in place to preserve soil health. As fertility reduced over the years, yields have reduced, resulting in the use of more chemical fertilisers trapping food systems in a vicious cycle because user efficacy was low.
“This was mostly seen in predominantly producers of cereal crops such as rice. The issue with how Sri Lanka approached this is the isolation in which the ban was imposed,” he added.
Dr. Ramanjaneyulu recalled being a part of discussions in Kandy 14 years ago where government officials refused to begin the transition from chemical fertilisers.
“If the gradual transition had started then incrementally, Sri Lanka would be stable now. Having to make a sudden and drastic switch because of climate change and the country’s finances was damaging,” he added.
However, local experts disagree and claim the move to organic farming was impractical and unnecessary.
“No technique will give you a 100% negative or positive impact,” said Prof. Buddhi Marambe, Senior Professor University of Peradeniya’s Faculty of Agriculture. Prof. Marambe was also one of Sri Lanka’s lead agriculture negotiators at COP27 in November.
He noted the international agreements towards climate action categorically agree that it should not cost the sustainable development of the country. Each country would have its own priorities and countries such as Sri Lanka would have to be stern with their priorities because of the situation we were in.
“Food security is now national security. During the first eight months of 2022 alone, Sri Lanka imported 596,000 metric tonnes of rice for consumption. This cost about Rs. 64.3 Bn,” Prof. Marambe said.
The Census and Statistics Department released its third-quarter economic data on Friday, which marked an 8.7% contraction in Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector. The first quarter marked a 6.4% contraction and the second an 8.4%.
Sri Lanka’s economy as a whole contracted by 1.6% during the first quarter, 8.4% in the second quarter, and 11.2% in the third quarter. Economic revival was heavily impacted by food security and the nosedive needed to be brought under control.
“When you want to increase the productivity of the high-yielding crop varieties, chemical fertiliser has to be used because organic inputs cannot provide the required amounts of nutrition and the consequent high yields that we need,” Prof. Marambe said.
The Prof insisted that food security could not be achieved by organic farming. When asked whether a slow transition into organic fertiliser should be in the books at all for Sri Lanka, “what for?” he asked.
Addressing the soil fertility concerns he noted most organic materials actually acted as soil conditioners that help absorb fertiliser as opposed to nutritious fertiliser itself.
“When the correct dosage of chemical fertiliser is used, the crop will absorb it and the releases to the environment are minimised.”
Sri Lanka’s productivity lay at about 4800 kg of yield for each hectare–a barrier that India was still struggling to break.
“225 kg of urea consists of 46% or 103.5 kg of nitrogen,” Prof. Marambe said.
All of this fertiliser would not be applied at the same time. The split application would be used and the total fertiliser allocation would be applied in intervals over a span of six weeks. The quantity used in each slot was decided based on the needs of the crop which would reduce the negative impacts significantly, and most emissions that did happen were a “natural phenomenon,” the Professor said.
Fertiliser had a nutrient release curve and plants had a nutrient absorption curve. When the two overlap, the outcome was ideal.
“These are recommendations local scientists have given and it is a climate-smart way of engaging in agriculture. All those negative impacts will only come if the entire lot is dumped at once,” he added.
Furthermore, the extensive use of organic matter in the stagnant water conditions of Sri Lanka’s paddy fields would actually result in extremely high methane emissions when the plowing happened.
At the Conference of Parties this year, countries agreed to what is known as the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture, a United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change decision that explored the potential of agricultural practices to tackle climate change. Countries were expected to make submissions with recommendations and pledges to the Joint Work by March next year.
Sri Lanka, through its updated Nationally Determined Contributions, expected to reduce agriculture sector GHG emissions by 7% by 2030, and these commitments would most likely increase with the Koronivia agreement which aimed to realign food systems with the global move towards combating the climate crisis.
“Climate Smart Practices are required. Slower-release urea alternatives can allow dosages to be reduced significantly, and better fertiliser application technologies exist in the market that experts claim Sri Lanka can use with external support. When you consider the National Adaptation Plan, the NDCs, and the upcoming Sharm-el-Sheikh Koronivia Work programme, there are three things agriculture will need: technology transfer, capacity building on those technologies, and the finances to access them.” Prof. Marambe said.
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