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Tuesday, 19 February 2002  
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THE OBSERVER

The Oldest English Newspaper in South Asia
Founded 4.2.1834
P. O. Box 1217,
35, D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha,
Colombo 10, Sri Lanka.
Telephone: Editor - 94-1-429226; Fax: 94-1-429230


Importing coconuts?

Who would have thought that Sri Lanka would be compelled to import coconuts? For that matter, a century ago, who would have thought that Sri Lanka would be importing rice, our staple food?

As The Buddha taught us - long before sub-atomic physics proved it 'scientifically' - change is constant. So there has come a time when some of the things that seemed most permanent, like the availability of coconuts and rice on this island, are no longer so. If rice had to be imported by the mid-20th century, coconuts are going to be imported by the early 21st century, according to an announcement by the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister, Ravi Karunanayake.

If Sri Lanka had been self-sufficient in rice in times past, till recently, not were we self-sufficient in coconuts, but we were also exporting a wide range of coconut products, from oil, to copra to processed coconut milk. Coconut product exports were the third pillar of our primary products export-based economy of late colonial and early post-colonial periods.

Even if change is constant, it does not mean that we have to become dependent on imports for something that we can produce well and have done since humans began using the coconut tree in numerous ways on this island.

Hence, it is not enough for the Commerce Ministry to begin importing coconuts. The Commerce Ministry must respond to the immediate problem of a shortage in the local market. But those responsible for food production,for the plantation industry and for agro-industries, must urgently take up the matter.

After all, a shortage means that a previously powerful industry is now in crisis. Why? What can, and should, be done to resolve the crisis? Has Government planning failed - presuming there was planning in relation to the coconut industry?

If serious action is not initiated to respond to this problem, the process of change will move on, inexorably, and next, we would find ourselves importing tea!

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