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by S. B. Karalliyadde

Successive governments promised to make the farmer a king. At the dawn of independence the D. S. Senanayake government did make the farmer a king. These are the farmer kings of Polonnaruwa, Minneriya, Minipe, Katiyawa, Gal-oya and such colonization schemes inaugurated during his regime.

Late Dudly Senanayake's regime launched a scheme to enhance the yield by introducing a system of getting rid of weeds in the paddy fields. Late Upali Senanayake introduced the shramadana of schoolchildren who got into the paddy fields to uproot weeds and thereby increase the growth of the paddy plant. In early sixties it was a popular national Movement jointly sponsored by the Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana movement, the Freedom From Hunger Campaign, the then Land Development Department, the Education Department and the Agriculture Department.

This movement was able to increase the paddy harvest to some extent and the farmer also gained social recognition by mingling with officials and politicians in the field. The agricultural inputs were not so costly then as they are today. The farmers mostly used compost manure prepared by them and natural manure from leaves grown in the gardens. Traditional methods of controlling pests and insects were used instead of mass application of insecticides and pesticides. But, with changing times with the advent of multinational companies dealing in agro-chemicals and products, the village farmer gradually got used to these modern chemicals.

I had occasion to recently meet some farmer families in their homes and would like to draw the attention of authorities regarding some of the problems faced by them. The farmers I met were from the Madatugama Block in the system H of Mahaweli project. the area under paddy is 2840 hectares from Madatugama and 1423 hectares under Kandalama tank. Both these schemes had ample rain water for Yala cultivation and did not depend on Mahaweli water from Kalawewa.

This is because Rajarata experienced enough and more rains in this season. The crops were attacked by a paddy pest and the farmers had a problem in controlling this menace. The efforts of Mahaweli agriculture extension workers and the staff from the provincial and central governments were not there in time. The farmer did not receive proper timely guidance and advice.

The farmers informed me that the pesticides were very expensive as much as Rs. 240 per bottle and the sprayers necessary were not available in the extension centres. The cost of hiring a sprayer is around Rs. 1,000 per day. The cost of fertilizer is about Rs. 740 per acre for one application.

With the inauguration of the Mahaweli Project every farmer got 2 1/2 acres of paddy land and 1/2 acre highland so that everyone became an owner- cultivator. Hitherto they were "Ande Cultivators". So far they have not received their title deeds from the Government.

One notable feature to be seen is that about ninety five percent of these farmers fall into debt before pre-harvest at the commencement of the first ploughing. The debts incurred is from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 35,000.

Some women told me that they have pawned all their jewellery to meet the capital costs. They can redeem their pawned jewellery only after the sale of the harvest. By then interest is accrued and it becomes a heavy burden on them. In some areas harvesting has already commenced.

The private dealer buys paddy at Rs. 10 per kilo. Although the Government has fixed a price between Rs. 12 to Rs. 13.50 per kilo, so far no arrangements have been made to purchase paddy. By the time the Government steps in the farmer would have sold his paddy to the private dealer as there are no storage facilities to the farmer. It is finally the private dealer who sells paddy at the government price. The farmer is waiting to sell paddy, settle his debts and enjoy the Sinhala New Year. I presume that this position is the same in Polonnaruwa, Elahera, Bakamuna, Tambuttegama, Kalawewa, Galnewa, Girandurukotte, Udawalawa and other rice producing areas under the Mahaweli scheme. This situation needs personal attention of authorities concerned.

However, much money is released by the Government to purchase paddy. The farmer is not going to benefit unless some system is in operation to benefit the targeted groups. Lack of such mechanism will lead to the abuse of facilities intended to the farmer and only a middle man will benefit. Another problem faced by the farmer today is the shortage of labour for harvesting.

The prevailing peace situation today has brought vast acres of land under cultivation in the adjoining districts of Batticaloa, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, and this has resulted in the need for a large labour force to work during the harvesting season just begun. The harvesting in these districts is done on contract basis. The contractors therefore engage a large force of labour which has resulted in the migration of labour.

This problem has resulted in the need to pay a higher wage by the farmer during the harvesting period. They told me that with the mid-day meal the cost of labour is around Rs. 300 per day. This adds to the cost of production per kilo and the farmers strongly feel that a reasonable price should be paid for a kilo of paddy if the farmer is to sustain his efforts to produce the rice needed to the country.

Agriculture implements, machinery and inputs, should be made available to farmers throughout the island tax free and at concessionary prices. This will help increase production and reduce the cost of production. The farmers in these areas also embark on the growing of subsidiary crops with the use of water from agro wells. I am informed that in other Mahaweli areas too the farmers make use of agro wells to grow subsidiary food crops and vegetables. It is essential that water pumps, motors, hose, sprinkler irrigation units and such other paraphernalia used in agriculture should be available to the farmer within easy reach and at reasonable cost.

Funds from the Indian credit line grants could be released to farmer organizations to meet these requirements. The children of Mahaweli farmers could be motivated to take to agriculture as a vocation only if high tech advance methods could be demonstrated to attract them.

This type of advance technology is used in other Asian countries such as India, Thailand, Japan, China, South Korea etc. to attract youth to agriculture. Not only the second generation of Mahaweli farmers will have to face the problem of finding new lands but also with the increasing population land will be a scare commodity. Any government in power will have to adopt suitable technology for the maximum productive utilization of the available land resources. I observed the areas under subsidiary crops cultivation with the rain fed water and water from agro wells.

Following are the figures:

The authorities responsible should ensure a reasonable price and a ready market and storing facilities once the harvesting begins.

Today we have several Cabinet Ministries such as Mahaweli, Irrigation, Water Management, Agriculture, Lands, Co-operatives, Rural Economy, Samurdhi, Science and Technology and a host of other non Cabinet and Junior Ministries connected to the agriculture development and welfare of the rural masses, so that a multi-disciplinary approach to these problems could be planned and worked out with the relevant authorities and agencies.

The rural indebtedness, sustenance of farmers during pre harvest, finding markets, reasonable pricing, application of modern science and technology in food production, preservation and storage, minimizing post harvest, transport losses are some of the problems that need solutions at the divisional, district and provincial levels if the rural economy is to be boosted as envisaged by the new ministry.

Mention must also be made of livestock in the area.

The Mahaweli has introduced high bred milching cows as well as draught animals to replace the stunted cattle population.

It was observed that the recent spread of a virus disease has affected the livestock in the area and the farmers were unable to get the veterinary services in time to curb the infection. The high cost of drugs that were not affordable and were readily available, within the easy reach of the farmer were some problems faced by the livestock farmers. These problems affect the production of milk in the areas.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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