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By Sandun Jayawardana 

The state of the agriculture and plantation industries; two sectors vital for the country’s food security and economic prosperity, were the subject of intense discussion when the expenditure heads of the two relevant ministres were taken up during the committee stage debate of Budget 2025.

At Wednesday’s (12) debate on the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation, MPs from both sides of the aisle dwelt on the enormous damage caused to the agriculture sector by the disastrous agricultural policies of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government, in particular its almost overnight ban on the import and use of chemical fertiliser. It was noted that the negative effects of the chemical fertiliser ban continues to linger.

Opening the debate, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Kurunegala District MP Nalin Bandara said it was the chemical fertiliser ban that ultimately led to the downfall of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government. The harvests from the Maha and Yala Seasons plummetted by 37 per cent and 30 per cent respectively. Noting that the effects of Gotabaya’s policies are still being felt, Mr Bandara said the chemical fertiliser issue is responsible for the prevailing shortage of coconuts.

Mr. Bandara though, said his main concern was whether the National People’s Power’s (NPP) election manifesto is reflected in the budget. “I don’t see any parallels between your manifesto and this budget. Your election manifesto would have been drafted by your headoffice at Pelawatta but this budget was drafted by officials from the Finance Ministry who served under former President Ranil Wickremesinghe. That is why the two aren’t compatible,” he opined. He also criticised the government’s conduct when addressing the country’s rice shortage, saying their measures benefited the large-scale rice millers rather than the farmers.

In reply, Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation Minister K.D. Lal Kantha said his responsibility is not to keep blaming the past, but to lead his Ministry towards the goal of ensuring food production and food security for the country. He added the government also needs need to fill the large number of vacancies in the livestock field, including the severe shortage of veterinarians.

“Though we are an agricultural country, we had no choice but to import rice to address the shortage. That is indeed tragic, but we would not hesitate to import foodstuffs in order to ensure people’s food security. However, we are doing our utmost to produce all the food that we can produce in our country,” the minister emphasised.

He added the government’s first priority is to ensure that farmers make a profit from farming. “We need to speak about the farmers before we speak about customers. We need to think about the price of paddy before the price of rice. We need to start from there and then make decisions regarding the price of rice and vegetables.”

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa proposed that the government introduce a “National Agricultural Policy” to ensure policies don’t change with each government. He also said farmers should be given the recognition and respect they deserve.

It is a fact that many of the younger generation has moved away from farming, Mr Premadasa said, but opined agriculture can still be strengthened through smart agricultural practices by introducing new technologies to modernise agriculture, thus making agricultural production process more efficient.

During Friday’s (14) committee stage debate on the Plantation and Community Infrastructure Ministry’s expenditure head, Chief Opposition Whip and SJB Galle District MP Gayantha Karunathilaka said the chemical fertiliser ban and organic agriculture policy of the former government contributed greatly to the devastation of the tea industry. Tea smallholders, who form the backbone of the industry by accounting for 75 per cent of total tea production, were suffering immensely owing to issues such as labour charges being too high and the high prices of pesticides and fertiliser.

There were about 709 tea factories, but 124 of them have already shut down, he revealed, adding the other 585 factories too are struggling to survive. The shortage of tea buds due to the fertiliser crisis was the main issue tea factories face.

Turning to the shortage of coconuts, Mr Karunathilaka said when ones looks at the price of a coconut these days, even coconut sambol has become a luxury. He claimed that it was after the NPP government came to power that the highest price in history was recorded for coconuts, with coconut consumption going down significantly.

“I do not believe people will blame the government for the shortage of coconuts,” said Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure Samantha Viddyarathna. “We cannot immediately increase the coconut harvest within three months. It takes at least 1 ½ years to see results if fertiliser is applied for a coconut plant today, so we cannot pluck coconuts from that tree in three months if we did that today. We regret that people are in this situation. We used to export coconuts, but now we have been forced to import coconuts, coconut oil and associated products,” he acknowledged.

He revealed the government is drafting a 10-year plan to develop the coconut industry. A “National Plantation Policy” will also soon be submitted to Cabinet for approval. He said plans are in place to significantly increase coconut, tea and rubber production over the next five years. “Our current export revenue from all three crops is USD 3 billion. We plan to double that to USD 6 billion by 2030,” said the minister.

SJB Nuwara Eliya District MP Palani Digambaram said while some in the NPP are accusing opposition politicians such as himself for deceiving the people and not doing anything for them, he was the first person born and bred in the estates who went onto become a Cabinet Minister. “I have not been accused of any wrongdoing. I know the difficulties the people in the estates are going through. That is why I came to politics. You now have a chance to work, so prove you can do it without criticising us,” he told the government. He added the opposition will support the government’s efforts to uplift the livelihoods and living standards of plantation sector workers.

While plantation companies will pledge to increase salaries of plantation sector workers, they will not increase basic salaries, United National Party (UNP) MP Jeevan Thondaman said. “They are trying to take the most out of the workers for absolutely nothing,” he stressed. Mr Thondaman said he had come to understand after working with these companies for many years that the companies are not accountable and behave as though they are not part of Sri Lanka. “We are constantly defending them saying we have to protect the Ceylon Tea Brand, but today, the Ceylon Tea Brand is smeared with blood.” He claimed the companies were the reason for the sorry state people in the plantation sector find themselves in.

Replying Minister Viddyarathna said the government is holding discussions with relevant stakeholders to increase the daily wage of plantation sector workers to Rs. 1700. The Plantation and Finance Ministries have jointly held discussions with the plantation companies and while the companies have explained their difficulties, he said the government’s stance is that if others in the private sector can increase wages taking advantage of the prevailing dollar rate, the plantation sector can do so as well.

Meanwhile on Friday the Government tabled in the House the Report of the Commission to Inquire into the Establishment and Maintenance of Unlawful Places of Detention and Torture Chambers in the Batalanda Housing Scheme.

The Commission was appointed by then President Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1995 and the report was presented in 1998. It was published in 2000 as a sessional paper. The report was tabled by the Leader of the House Minister Bimal Ratnayake.