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by Chandani Jayatilleke

Agriculture Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake said his Ministry's prime aim is to transform the agri sector into a vibrant contributor to the economy and to raise the living standards of the farming community to new heights.

Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake

"We plan to get foreign assistance to upgrade and develop agriculture industries and we have already planned to sign MoUs with the Governments of China and Thailand," he told the Daily News in an interview.

Following are excerpts from the interview:

Question: Let's begin with the Rata Perata (Country Forward) concept. How would you introduce this concept within the institutions under your Ministry? And how does your Ministry plan to contribute its best to the economy and take the country forward?

Answer: The main objective of the 'Rata Perata' concept is to mobilise people and encourage them to create an economy based on local producers and manufacturers.

Agriculture - mainstay of the majority

If you look at the Gross National Product, it mostly depends on the contributions from livestock, fisheries, agriculture and SME sectors.

In the past, our economy was on a wrong track. Due to this, the country's national products sector collapsed badly; producers went bankrupt.

Therefore, the 'Rata Perata' concept aims to bring the national producers and products forward. We want to create a strong economy which is based on local products and goods. In this exercise, our Ministry has to play a major role as it directly deals with agriculture and livestock sectors.

The important thing here is to assure self-sufficiency in food. We are committed to support and encourage farming communities to achieve this feat.

Question: In your agenda, what are the priority areas?

Answer: We have identified several priority areas for immediate action. The areas include seed farms, reorganising farmer associations, introducing modern technologies and research and development and strengthening regional agri projects.

Question: How would you ensure that your promises will not be confined to a statement? How do you plan to achieve the goals set by your Ministry?

Answer: Firstly, we want to establish effective seed farms and streamline the distribution system of quality seeds produced in Sri Lanka. We have the resources, knowledge and people to do this task, though we lack modern technology. At present, there's a monopoly in this sector.

The previous Government had already ordered to close down some of the seed farms when the Governments changed. But we took measures to reopen them.

We admit that we have not been able to use much modern technology in the seed development area. But we have the traditional knowledge. Our aim is to develop new methods, combining our traditions with modern technologies.

Secondly, we are hoping to strengthen farmer associations and link them to one large network through which the farmers will be able to get various benefits, concessions and consultancy services on various matters pertaining to agriculture.

Our aim here is not on individual-basis. We are targeting a large farming community. We are hoping to get 450 associations into this network and launch the services during the next 'Yala harvest' season.

Our next issue is the water - the previous Government had again made a proposal to privatise the water sector. But we are not in favour of this proposal. We do not want to put our farmers into a position where they have to pay for water. Instead we want to establish a scientific water management system.

After all, we are a nation who inherited rich water management skills from our ancient generations.

Well..., we also need to find solutions for issues such as post harvest wastage. At present, about 40% of the vegetables and fruits go waste due to packaging, storing and marketing problems. We have to find proper methods to minimise this wastage and get the maximum use of our fruits and vegetables.

In this context, we are closely working with the Post Harvest Institute to develop and improve new techniques to address post harvest waste.

Exploring new markets for agri products is another important area. In the present situation, the middle man is the decision maker in prices, not the producer. we must have a system where the farmer could decide the market price for his products.

For this, we need State involvement in the purchasing mechanism. In purchasing paddy, it shouldn't be left in the hands of a few wholesale traders and mill-owners. From the forthcoming 'Yala kanna', we will introduce a proper system to purchase paddy and distribute rice with the involvement of the Agriculture and the Trade Ministries.

Finally, we need to implement various programs to raise the quality of life of the farmers. The farmers in this country, deserve better social recognition and living standards.

Question: Successive governments in this country have talked big of promoting and providing incentives to agriculture industries and farmers. But these promises have remained promises. Can you change this situation within this framework?

Answer: Our aim is to set up farmer associations which are independent and diligent. Agriculture Ministry's plans will be implemented in villages through these associations. As I said before, we will connect them with Agriculture Ministry officers, to ensure State involvement.

This mechanism will provide opportunities for all farming societies to solve their problems in a quick manner.

We'll provide every support including storage and mill facilities, market opportunities and financial assistance for them to work in unison. Our aim is to empower them with responsibility. As a pilot project, we have already begun this program in some areas including Polonnaruwa and Hambantota.

For instance, the fertiliser subsidy given by the Government now goes to various companies. We want to put a stop to this and implement a mechanism to ensure these subsidies go to farmer associations.

Question: Don't you think there's a mismatch between your policies and the country's economic policies?. If so how do you plan to overcome this situation?

Answer: Our strategy is to develop our own agriculture sector and related areas. For instance, we want to set up our own seed farms. In the past Sri Lanka merely became a lucrative market for foreign seed farms.

The strategies we had in the past included - importing rice instead of providing facilities to our own farmers. We even imported fruits and vegetables instead of implementing a proper marketing mechanism for our own fruits and vegetables.

In the past we have seen, there was a conflict between these strategies. At one time we read it, as a conflict between former Minister of Agriculture, S.B. Dissanayake and Former Secretary to the Treasury, Charitha Ratwatte. But in reality it was not a conflict between them, but a conflict between two different strategies. So you have to implement strategies which are in line with the present economic strategy.

Question: Let's take the rice issue. Last year, the Government said there was a surplus in paddy harvest. But the prices didn't come down. How would your Ministry tackle such an issue in the future?

Answer: Our rice consumption level is about 60% and wheat flour consumption is 40%. But still we have not produced paddy to meet this consumption level. Although the consumption level is 60%, in reality, our rice consumption level is much below that. Because many people in rural areas don't get to eat three meals a day due to poverty.

Considering these facts, we can say we have not been able to produce sufficient or an excess quantity of rice in the past. But, we have the potential to reach this target. We cultivate 525,000 hectares of paddy in Maha Kanna and 350,000 hectares in Yala Kanna, totalling 875,000 hectares a year. This extent is surely sufficient enough to harvest sufficient rice stocks for the country.

But, our aim is to go beyond this point and create a rich 'rice consumption mentality' among our people, so that many would opt for the rice instead of wheat flour. The present culture is more towards a 'wheat flour' mentality.

However, as many people argue, we cannot change this practice, only by increasing the price of wheat flour and decreasing the price of the rice. We need to create a need for rice consumption and also create an economy where people could purchase the rice. For this we need to implement a proper rice distribution system, even to bring the rice from villages such as those in Digamadulla to Central Colombo.

Question: Although the prices of spices in the world market are high, our exporters complain that there are no sufficient stocks to export. Can you comment?

Answer: We are aware of the increasing prices of spices in the world market. And Sri Lanka's cinnamon usually fetches good prices in the world market. However, we have not thought about adding value to our agri based export products. We want to aggressively promote this idea and export as much value added spice products as possible.

Question: What about fruit exports? Why haven't we done well in the dried fruit market?

Answer: This is another important area, we have given much consideration to. In fact, Thailand is one country which has achieved feats in this sector.

They use modern technology in drying, packing and marketing dried fruits. During my recent visit to China, I met the Thai Minister of Agriculture and discussed bilateral cooperation as far as agriculture is concerned.

And the Thai Minister agreed to extend their fullest cooperation to develop our agriculture industries. We are hoping to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which will enable us to get Thai assistance to develop our agri-based industries.

Question: The common opinion about various research and development done in some of the local institutions including the agricultural institutes is that they are not being used to the fullest. How do you plan to get the maximum from findings of these research studies?

Answer: There are two types of research studies - those which researchers conduct to assess their knowledge and others which are confined to reports and institutions. We hope to go beyond this point and make use of R and D to the fullest.

Question: Another issue the industry is facing with regard to competition is the high cost of production. What's your opinion?

Answer: Though we find the production cost in agri products in many countries is lower than that of Sri Lanka, the farmers in these countries get a lot of subsidies. Sometimes, they get more subsidies than what they earn by way of exports. In agriculture, you can't compare the profits and losses. First, you have to think about the country's food security. For a country, food security is more important than national security.

If you don't have sufficient food for the countrymen, there is no point in national security. It's a weak nation.

Question: The younger generation has been moving away from the agriculture field in the past, as it does not bring rewards. How do you plan to change this and attract the young to the agriculture field?

Answer: Sri Lankan farmers are unfortunate that they are continuing to farm for the sake of making a mere income for a living. They are doing so because, they have no other job to do. And the farmers also encourage their children to find other jobs, they don't want to see their young children getting into farming or into the agriculture field.

We want to change this culture and launch agri projects where we can attract young people. We will also take measures to raise the living standards of the farmers and recognise them as an important segment in society. That will help bring the glory back to farming.

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