The young ladies who flood the Departments of Agriculture

If you go into any agricultural faculty in Sri Lanka, both the teaching staff and students have a female majority. This is good if you see women in all sorts of farming in Sri Lanka, but I have yet to see that fact reflected in the actual workforce.

What does that mean? Are we educating these people at enormous expense for them to try and get government jobs as village agricultural coordinators of advisers? I have a woman attached to my place in Polonnaruwa, who I do not know if she has got an Agricultural Degree, but is unable to communicate with the farmers of the area on an equal or knowledgeable basis where we can accept what she has to say, based on both theoretical and technical knowledge.

Is it that we have to blame the men in this area and say they have an equal chance of getting into the University so don't complain that it is the women who do so. One needs to have a certain Z score for university entry, and by and large there is a much greater proportion of females who do so and with this system of informing them what fields of study they have got marks for, if Agriculture is on the menu, then why not take it as the women want a degree, without much thought as to what subject or what field they wish to pursue in the future.

The young boys fall by the wayside and do not get into university and look for some easy way out of life, by joining the forces or the police or whatever they can get after a vocational course. I also often wander if those who go to the agricultural faculty have no intention of farming as they believe that profession is beneath them, but that they believe advisers are a cut above that and so aspire for the limited openings in this field. The additional tragedy is that these agricultural graduates use their degree to gain a marriage and then use the system for personal goals, rather than enter into agriculture proper as a lifelong vocation, which should be the aim of the courses.

It is time that all the Universities do a survey of the alumni and come up with some answers as to how useful these faculties are of producing knowledge based farmers to increase the productive output of the country rather than swell the ranks of the unemployed or unemployable.

Arsenic Issue - Academics attached to Kelaniya University challenge their own Dean of that Faculty

It is timely that the Academics attached to the Faculty of Science disassociated themselves from their Dean, Professor Nalin de Silva, effectively relegating him to the role of a charlatan.

It is disgraceful for one to reach up to the skies in making a scientific explanation and therefore I hope this mess is put to bed once and for all. I know so many people who are worried about arsenic levels as a result of this scare, and the newspapers as usual, in order to sell their publications and attract readership have resorted to fear mongering, instead of explaining to our relatively unthinking readership who soak up truth or fiction in the same order, that this issue needs to be properly evaluated.

We have yet to fully understand and explain the problems of kidney disease in the NCP, as that has something to do with the unique conditions of the NCP as much as it also has the fluoride issue in water to contend with which other parts of the country that use the same level of pesticides do not. So that and the cooking on cheap aluminum vessels to store water etc. may also be a contributory factor. It is imperative that this issue is immediately addressed as I also farm in the NCP and at the moment transport all my drinking water from the my farm in the Western Province.

There are many issues here, with regard to the overuse of Chemical Fertilizer, as well as the overuse of Pesticides and the deterioration of the soils arising therefrom and seepage into the groundwater as well as to other drinking water sources of these chemicals and how they impact human health. There is a lot of suffering in the NCP and people are clinging on to anything they can to explain away their plight, and the powers in play are playing with this concern, without seriously addressing the issue with the respect and diligence it requires.

Prof De Silva did a great disservice to the country in drawing attention to himself, and I believe the least that can be done is to have him removed from his position forthwith in the interests of Education and the future of his University, as both those are for more important than the man himself.

Then let us get back into firstly addressing the Kidney disease problem and find a realistic and scientific explanation. We should then separately address the over use of fertilizer and pesticides in some scientific manner and encourage and teach our farmers to minimize their use and assist them in overcoming the degradation of soils that have forced farmers to overuse these as compensation for past sins.

Let us call a truce and end the battle and move forward

Today's (3rd July 2011) Lankadeepa, page 4 of the 'Thaksalava' section has two related but quite different issues relating agriculture and the current debate. The first article on the top half is showing the benefit of a paddy field cultivated completely on the traditional principles, without any use of pesticides and weedicides, with an old variety of rice called 'kalu heenati'.

The second is of farmers burning their now seedforming paddy fields due to the lack of water being sent by the bureaucrats to their fields due to these government servants paying homage to local politicians. I will not discuss this at length as it is an elementary intervention required to divert water without prejudice to the needy farmers to cultivate their 1500 acres of paddy, as there is plenty of water in the area to cultivate, and the basics of clearing and upgrading the anicuts being the issue.

The former is the battle with totally opposing camps, which don't appear to see the middle ground. I read daily about" rabid organists" for want of a better word, who play upon people's sensitivities to spread their word, much like the born again preachers. It is in this "Arsenic" context that this topic has come to the fore. The greedy multinational pesticide and chemical suppliers are blamed for the arsenic in the soil, and as the proponent in this article, Susatha M Paranagama, is associated with the Kelaniya University, Dr Nalin de Silva camp of fear mongers, sets the stage for a reversion back to the traditional age.

I do not dispute his logic as it is infinitely more healthy to grow food in the organic way. As a practitioner who has attempted these ideas, I feel his approach is eminently impractical. His words, and I quote "Ape govikamata manush shramaya one" which when translated means we need Manual Labor for our Agriculture. "Pray Paranagama, where do I find men and boys?" I am the only one available to work my paddy fields and I cannot do that today thanks to Mahinda Chinthana weda pilivela, which begat speeding ministerial convoys that kill and maim innocent people including farmers who are willing to give of their Manush Shramaya. Can he find one person in his university willing to pick up a mammoty?

This is the problem with experts, and dons. They are only of a theoretical mindset who think that just because he is an adviser to an experimental, one acre or less plot in the Kirimatiyagara Paddy Fields, that gives him the authority to expound this as a national policy to be adopted.

I have no love for multinationals who squeeze the living daylights out of us, but I want to be practical in coming up with a solution to the Nationwide food production Issue as well as provide guidelines in its implementation with minimal harm to the soil, environment and our citizens, but which will enable our country to be self sufficient in most of the basics of the food we eat.

Whilst I agree wholeheartedly that I can eat once cup of "Kalu Heenati Rice" instead of three cups of the less healthy currently available rices to fill my stomach, we have first to have a system of doing this side by side so that eventually this goal could be achieved for those who are willing to pay the higher cost of this production, which still denies the masses of the quality. If he tells me he can produce this at much less or equal cost he is dreaming in technicolor as there are no humans available to work the land and want to work the land unless they are given a four wheel tractor to drive, as the two wheel one is also too labor intensive and too exhausting for our youth of today.

So please let us discuss this issue like adults and not kids in class rooms and come up with a national policy. My suggestion is to have a province or at least a District dedicated to organic farming methods as part of a large experiment and see how we can improve the quality of life of those who live there along with producing output that can be marketed at prices that those who produce can live off of, and succeed in their own personal goals. If this is so successful the whole nation will adopt it, if it is not, we have not forced a whole nation to starve due to the actions of the few well intentioned fools!!

The constant attack on progress seen as a threat

There are many cases I can refer to in my practical experience and the latest was the threat a harmless homeless person had to undergo when he was given a job.

My sister and I share adjoining properties in Hingurakgoda, and she recently found a person from the South who just wanted a job, with a place to stay, and was known to one of her in-laws as an honest person who does not drink or smoke. So she put him in charge of her property.

From the first day, there were people making frightening noises in the area and throwing stones on to the roof, and generally trying to pretend that the place was haunted so they could chase him out of fear. I knew the trick as I had personally suffered similar harassment, and told him to sit it out and they will eventually give up. Thankfully for my sister he did and the need for a roof over his head overcame the fear of the night, and it paid off. I am pleased for him further as after less than 6 months in the area, he even managed on his own to find a wife from a place not more than 3km from the property, so that now he is not alone and is more committed to getting the place into a state, I was never able to make due to not having a permanent occupant in the home.

The coconut thieves and those who stole almost everything from the land there now no longer have that chance and are now looking in envy how this man is slowly transforming the place into a veritable garden of produce and plenty. I was there yesterday and seeing the transformation made me so happy both for him and my sister who for the first time was able to come away with 400 coconuts in the back of her vehicle, which will at least cover the cost of the diesel for the trip. I can see her new found joy at owning agricultural land and getting produce from it. The lime tree was so lush with limes, and I told her that twice a year she can harvest about 60kg of lime from that tree and even at today's retail price in Colombo of Rs100 a kg she can make a lot of friends happy even if she does not sell it but distributes it. Previously it was all picked and plucked by those who believe it their birthright to steal and not plant, as a lime tree can be planted anywhere in that area, as it requires very little maintenance.

The current state of law and order and the example of grand theft and larceny shown by this government is used as the excuse for the small man to steal. It is important to be able to show that our leaders can be incorruptible and therefore an example to all, and I wish I live long enough to see the day that will return to our resplendent land.

Divineguma - a way to hoodwink a nation

It is preposterous for a senior minister in government to say that the above program will uplift the lives of one million households. Just think about the logic. They are supposed to provide the basics, so that households will become self sufficient in many areas including food production, but also on livelihood development. This if one takes a five person household should positively affect 25% of the population of this country. Are they dreaming in technicolor?

The hundred rupees of seeds given to my neighbor in Hingurakgoda as part of the program did not even germinate, such is the quality of the seeds they provide. You can take a horse to water but cannot force it to drink. Understand that it is just the empowering process that the govt. should get involved in, not tell what people should do. If people are waiting for the govt. to advise them what to do then those people are not in a calibre that can even take advice.

The 500 families who were forced to lease a Dimo Batta that had been lying in Galle Face overnight so that the minister could get into the photo op are now rotting corroded because the film of salt was not washed off. They are in deep trouble trying to meet the monthly Rs22,500 lease payment.

Most people know what they want, it is not up to the govt. to tell them. It is the infrastructure in order to get what they want that the govt. should assist with. Much of the infrastructure is soft loans or microfinance(the Batta lease is at full rate with People's Bank being the main beneficiary) Then the climate to operate and whatever is provided should be of good quality and not an excuse to spend money or give their henchmen contracts in selling faulty goods.

The sad fact is that I think the Minister in charge of this project really believes it can work. That is the worrying thing. He does not realize anything about the people it is directed at. You cannot make entrepreneurs out of those who have no inclination in that direction. In my opinion it is giving false hopes to people on the margin, and continuing to keep them leashed to that hope without releasing them from this hope, by getting them to take control of their own lives and not depend on the state to help them along the way.

A person who wants to plant a coconut tree in his yard will do so Divineguma or not. Freely supplying coconut saplings willy nilly is not the answer. Considerable thought goes into this, and when things are divided amongst people everyone feels entitled to it whether they make use of it or not. So only half the seedlings will be planted properly and lets bet on it that the other half will not see the light of 5 years for the first nut.

In Sri Lanka we will take anything given free or thought to be free, even a headache. It is the unintended consequences of the recipient that I am trying to explain to farmers or rural people to avoid by listening to those who are spreading this lie.

To avoid disappointment do what you originally wanted, nothing in the Divineguma program is going to help you as the officials who are supposed to assist even don't know how. The whole program is inflate an already inflated ego of a person or persons in senior govt. positions.

Take whatever a govt. person says with a pinch of salt as it is not being said to assist you, just to massage the ego of the person making the asinine statement.

The Great Tomato Soup Heist

The small people like us who go shopping for vegetables ( I am still in crutches) will know how low the price of Tomato has fallen to. While it is not that cheap at Food City, it is down to Rs20 if I buy a kilo or more at the Pola.

So now I can have tomato soup and tomato with everything without worrying about the price as most other vegetables cost more. Look at the plight of the Tomato grower. It was before my accident that tomato at retail climbed to over Rs120 a kilo, but it takes about that time for people who think growing tomato may change their lives so many people increased the land extent that they used for growing tomato.

So if one drives on the Walapana, Rikilligaskade, Hanguranketha stretch also referred to as the Tomato belt, one will see the wooden tomato boxes piled high waiting for pick up. It is quite possible that farmers who saw the price of tomato rise so high, put more land under tomato and now are facing a glut as they did a super job growing, and the weather was kind to them as well as the tomato wilt was adequately contained. There is tomato coming out of their ears!!!

What do they do when the price offered for a kilo is Rs 5 and the box deposit is Rs 60 when the box can hold at most 20kg of tomato? That is a further Rs3 just for the box. Think about it? when tomato was retailing at Rs120, the farmer was able to sell it at Rs60 per kg, so the box fetched say Rs1,800. Now they are lucky to receive Rs100. Just look at the income discrepancy. Granted at the time tomato was Rs120 their yields were about 20% of current yields. Still if their yields are 5 times now, they are receiving Rs500 for the five boxes and then they received Rs1,800 for the one box, a quarter of the income.

One can now appreciate how devastating it is to the grower who is now reluctant to pluck. No amount of increased fertilizer subsidy for minor crops will improve his bottom line.

The wholesaler of course still makes a profit as his margin is on the difference between what he buys, his transport and storage costs, and selling price. I pity the tomato growers bringing them to the Dambulla market throwing their tomatoes into the garbage for elephants to scavenge on after paying for the transport cost.

Now it should be a field day for the Ketchup makers. MD, KVC, KIST and the like. They can make a fortune with their costs so low. The problem is that they are also brainless. They were caught with their pants down, and were not able to shift production immediately to Tomato Sauce to the extent that they should. They did not have enough labels bottles and the like. Added to that their prices never drop even if the raw material drops so there is less incentive to maximize profits, and a scandal arises there where the purchasing managers buy the tomato at Rs 10 from the bulk deliverer(quality of tomato for pulping is less important as it is cooked before bottling) but book it into the company records at Rs25 to 40 and pockets the difference.

The company records don't look bad as they are buying at much lower prices, so they will show profits. the purchasing person and his sidekicks pocket a sizeable amount on this short term payday for them and in the end the consumer suffers. This is how the agri-processing business is run.

When you look at all the machinations that go on in our economy, behind the scenes is it any wonder that the average Joe in the country is thoroughly confused.

I just hope the owner of MD (Hunters) reads this, goes to their cannery in Attanagalla and checks up on the costs and production of Tomato Sauce to see if he can make another Rs10M profit more than he is currently making. I don't think so as there is little competition in this field with few players in the market, resulting in an oligopoly at whose brunt end is the Consumer

Economically feasible extent of land

I was in conversation with some elders recently about the whole land reform process in the early seventies, where each couple were restricted to 50 acres of land, and the excess taken over by the state. In fact the veritable World Bank had advised that due to the excessively unproductive performance of the estates of a few thousand wealthy people, with in their view a return of less than 1%, that land be restricted to 25 acres per individual. Even if the UNP of Dudley Senanayake was elected he would also have imposed land reform at 25 acres as recommended by the World Bank. It was NM Perera of the Sirimavo Bandaranayaka government that came into power in 1970, who felt 25acres was too uneconomical, that hence it was increased to 50acres.

There appear in hindsight, many mistakes that lead to not an increase in productivity, but a decrease as a result of these reforms. There were two fundamental errors made. One was that the unproductivity of estates was an accounting method for the wealthy to hide their income by way of showing losses on the land by new cultivations, and other improvements, as well as fertilizing as profits from employment and other areas could then be offset against losses in agriculture. It must remembered today that agricultural income is tax free, and profits from other sources cannot be offset against agricultural losses, a completely diametrically opposed law.

Secondly it had originally been determined that the land and houses taken over would be compensated at market value, so these educated landowning classes would use this money to invest in productive enterprises, thereby stimulating the economy, and in the long run they also would be financially better off, without the weight of unproductive property around their necks. This did not happen as the government lacked the funds to compensate them and some are still waiting for compensation over 35 years later.

It is also clear that those to whom land was distributed were to henchmen and for political patronage, and the recipients had little knowledge in improving the small lots of an acre or more to increase production, and instead treated it as ranchettes to build their homes and home gardens, a total waste of previously productive agricultural land. One must always remember that this lead to huge agricultural lands that could have been turned into more productive units, by studious use of technology and investment, been turned into wastelands as the recipient received it free, with no cost to them and therefore no value attached to the property.

We have still not learned the lessons of the past and continue to make the same mistakes today.