Excess paddy for export

COLOMBO: The chance of exporting excess paddy out of the local harvest is a great victory achieved under the agro-economy in this country. It can be concluded that our economy based on agriculture has achieved an unprecedented success during the past year.

The ability to export our excess paddy produce is ample testimony to the correctness of our agro-economic policy. The implementation of the programme of Mahinda Chintana commenced with a fertilizer subsidy to the farmers.

The agricultural development seen during the last season as manifested by the paddy harvest was possible due to measures such as provision of agricultural equipment, agro-chemicals, other facilities, and an agricultural loan amnesty, introduced under the first budget.

According to farmer opinion, Mahinda Chintana has brought about a fresh awakening in the field of agriculture. Various factors in the field of agriculture are indicative of direct decisions taken during the year to usher in a better future for agriculture in the country.

The year 2006 can be viewed as a year which highlighted agriculture as a dynamic contributory force in our economy enhancing national revenue, economic security and employment opportunities.

One Cabinet portfolio and two non-Cabinet folio Ministries were set up during the year to uplift agriculture. These Ministries achieved several successes in the field of agriculture.

Minister Maitripala Sirisena is in charge of the Cabinet status Ministry of Agriculture while the non-Cabinet Ministry of Agricultural Development and the non-Cabinet Ministry of Agrarian Services and Farmer Development are under Ministers Chamal Rajapaksa and S.M.Chandrasena respectively.

The Ministry of Agricultural Development during the past year has taken a number of steps to increase agricultural produce, to ensure the safety of indigenous foods and nutrition, to open profit oriented instead of supply oriented agricultural enterprises, to enhance agriculture based employment opportunities and to utilize natural resources neatly in agricultural management.

Fertilizer subsidy

The fertilizer subsidy is a highly commendable step taken to reduce the farmer's expenditure while increasing production.

The Ministry implemented this plan commencing from the Maha season 2005/2006 to make available to the paddy farmer a 50 kilogram bag of Urea fertilizer and T.S.P. and M.O.P. varieties at Rs. 350 and extended the programme to include other agricultural produce from the Yala season of 2006.In the case of issuing Urea fertilizer for tea, rubber and coconut plantations under five acres in extent and also in the case of small scale plantation industries, the subsidy was Rs. 1200.

The total expenditure to the Government to provide the fertilizer subsidy in this manner stood at Rs. 8739.08 million as at August 31, 2006.

As a result of the subsidy paddy production exceeded the local requirement and arrangements were made to sell the surplus stocks to the export market.

To increase the yield of agricultural produce it is imperative to upgrade the quality and quantity of seeds. Therefore, the Ministry allocated Rs. 300 million to the Department of Agriculture for the year 2006/2007 to implement a project of seed production.

Within this year, planting material for 15 items of crops have been produced by now. The entire haul consists of 2050 metric tons of primary seed paddy and 1200 metric tons of certified seed paddy for 27 varieties of paddy, 40 metric tons of primary seed for 10 other crops of 31 varieties, 4 tons of primary seed for 12 vegetables of 19 varieties, 95 tons of primary seed for two varieties of potatoes and 615 tons of certified seed.

Rs. 160 million for agricultural development

The Ministry of Agriculture implemented a zonal crop development programme to improve the crop cultivation in the respective zones. Accordingly Rs. 120 million was allocated to the Department of Agriculture while Rs. 40 million was allocated to the Agricultural Exports Department.

Under the programme the crops were identified in terms of zones and it handled activities connected with the production of seed and planting material up to processing and marketing.

Under a programme of the Department of Agriculture, mangosteen, belly, durian, pine-apple, papaw, jak, rambutan, mango,grapes, plantain, pears, kiri-ala, cassava, maize, chili, green gram, kurakkan, gingerly crops and ornamental flowers were given priority of attention.

Under the programme to further develop the growing of these crops was undertaken in the Districts of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Badulla, Moneragala, Ratnapura, Kegalle, Kandy, Matale, Nuwara-Eliya, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Mulaitivu, Jaffna, Galle, Matara, Hambantota,Kalutara, Gampaha and Colombo.

The Department of Agricultural Exports is expected to select pepper, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, saffron and sera as cash crops in these zones.

The Ministry of Agricultural Development has taken steps to implement a Zonal Granaries System to improve the productivity of paddy cultivation in large irrigational zones in order to make paddy cultivation a sustainable means of livelihood in those areas.

270,789 hectares under paddy cultivation in Mahaweli and irrigational zones

270,789 hectares identified as irrigational areas including the Mahaweli Zone have been selected for paddy cultivation under the implementation of "yaya" concept targeting a yield of 6.5 tons per hectare (more than 135 bushels per acre) for a season.

The objective of this programme is to obtain 80 per cent of the local requirement of rice every year. The programme is planned to gradually cover 3 to 4 years.The Government's estimated investment on the programme is Rs. 639.48 million.

Out of an allocation of Rs. 50 million for 2006, by the end of August Rs. 18.766 million was spent, according to the Ministry of Agricultural Development.

In view of the importance of women's participation in agricultural development, the Department of Agriculture is implementing a programme of farmer women's participation. A sum of Rs. 10 million has been allocated for this purpose.

The programme expects to organize rural women folk to actively involve them in the production and marketing process. The programme envisages security of food and nutrition while increasing family income under it at domestic level.

Under the programme 316 women farmers' organisations will be set up in each District. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 14,800 farmer women will be trained to develop 6,000 homegardens. Each programme of Farmer Women's Participation will cost Rs. 10 million.

The Export Crops Division mainly comprises of small land owners. The export crops cultivation area extends over approximately 100,000 hectares of land. Coffee, cinnamon, cocoa, and cloves in general come under this category which engages about 400,000 people.

The export crops sector earns roughly 10 per cent of the country's total foreign exchange earnings. The Department of Agricultural Exports is presently implementing a six-year programme in this respect.

Under this Plan, a Cluster Farms Development Programme, Agricultural Exports new crops, introduction of new crops in the estate sector, increase of productivity, increase of quality of the produce, use of carbonic fertilizer, introduction of new plants, implementation of programmes for trade and marketing promotion of agricultural exports, development of human resources pertaining to agricultural exports, and research work connected therewith have been introduced.

The Ministry of Agricultural Development has already launched an islandwide programme to increase the demand for rice and to popularise rice based products throughout the island.

By this the Government expects to save foreign exchange spent on import of wheat flour.The Agricultural Development Ministry implemented various programmes during the last year for this purpose.

Under the programme a number of seminars and workshops were conducted to improve the quality of rice and to manufacture various bakery products and rice noodles to popularise rice based products among the public.

Modernisation of rice mills to international standards, creation of rice processing villages, regularization of rice production are among the other steps taken by the Ministry of Agricultural Development during the year.

The Ministry endeavoured to encourage the sale of rice instead of paddy to increase the income of the farmer by Rs. 5 per kilo and set up 58 colonies designated to process rice. Similarly the Ministry went that extra mile for fruit and vegetable growing villages and to familiarize the farmers with the post harvest methods to prevent wastage of the harvest.

The Post Harvest Technology Institute at Jayanthi Mawatha, Anuradhapura introduced new devices of packing and transportation of fruits and vegetables and conducted seminars and workshops in this regard.

By now the plastic containers which reduce spoiling and wastage in transport have become popular among farmers in the Districts of Badulla, Nuwara-Eliya, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa immensely.

Water is an imperative factor in agricultural activities.Fine Water Management Systems have been introduced in the dry zones of the island and the Ministry has helped the farmers to obtain water from tube wells on private lands and the use of water sparingly to cultivate larger areas.

- Mahinda Kulathunga