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Food at reasonable prices

The inter-monsoonal showers are here and the vegetable harvest in the up country areas in particular is believed to be bountiful, but the consumer continues to pay considerably high prices for them. Thus, the seeming paradox about essential consumables continues to weigh down on the cash-strapped public. Prices of food items in particular continue to spiral although this shouldn't be the case if the laws of 'classical economics' are truly operative.

All this should have been food for thought on World Food Day which was conducted worldwide yesterday. We sincerely hope that the Government and its bureaucrats who are believed to be steering the ship of State, had occasion to reflect long and deep on these issues, for, a country, like an army, marches into the future on basically its stomach. It is also relevant to remember that although the head doesn't usually understand the 'agony of the stomach', it is the latter which determines a polity's political choices.

Yesterday we quoted the Head of the Marketing Department of the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute as saying that most upcountry vegetables are bought from the farmer for less than Rs. 20 per kilo. However, most vegetables fetched higher prices in the open market, establishing once again the well-known fact that the series of middlemen coming in between the farmer and the consumer, are continuing the extortionate practice of increasing prices unjustifiably and raking in a comfortable profit. It is a case of the middlemen calling the tune in the frequently stormy world of business and trade.

If the people are to have at least two nutritious meals per day, essential commodities need to be available at purse-easy prices. World Food Day, among other things, should serve to remind governments of the need to ensure that the basic consumables of the people, such as vegetables, fruits and cereals, are available at reasonably low prices. If this is not done, the world community would be hard pressed to justify the conducting of World Food Day. What would be the point in highlighting the need for wholesome food if it cannot be obtained by the ordinary people in particular, at prices which could be afforded by them?

Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake has done well to bring State organisations such as the CWE and the Fair Trading Commission into the limelight once again. These institutions are essential instruments in the battle against the cost of living. Giving the people the food they require is, essentially, a question of exercising the political will to the required degree. It would have been noticeable over the years that market forces do not always act in an equitable fashion; they tend to serve some people better than others.

This is the reason why the State needs to intervene to give the consumer his due. Given the human proclivity to maximise gains with hardly a care for the consequences, the strong restraining hand of the State is essential, if justice is to be meted out to the economically weak sections of society.

Some years back, some farmers were reduced to a state of hopelessness and despair because they couldn't dispose of their produce at a reasonable profit. There were seasons when some vegetables were found to rot under trees. Paddy farmers lamented the lack of State facilities and assistance to market their produce.

Unfortunately, although a lot of political capital was made out of these situations, little was done to help the farmer in his hour of need.

We do not intend to make out that the State could get back to a strangulatory role in these matters, but it needs to do more to ensure that the essential needs of the farmer and the consumer are met. State institutions, such as the CWE, the cooperatives and the Fair Trading Commission, which are now beginning to play a livelier role, should be more visible in the affairs of the people, to ensure that their needs are met. They need to upstage the mudalalis and the middlemen whose prime instinct is to make a fast buck at the consumer's expense.

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