Food security and production

Dr. C.S. WEERARATNA

Food security and nutrition are important considerations in the development of a country and are closely related to the domestic agricultural sector.

As defined in the World Food Summit, food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs for an active healthy life.

Food security is determined to a great extent by the level and cost of local food production, degree of poverty, natural disasters, peace and stability etc.

Food supplies the energy requirement, which could vary from 1200 to 2500 Kcal per day depending on the age of the person.

The average energy requirement is around 2200 Kcal per person per day. In Sri Lanka, 70 to 75 per cent of the

 energy is derived from carbohydrates, six to eight per cent from proteins and the balance from fats. Cereals are the main source of carbohydrates. Among the cereals, rice and wheat supply important carbohydrates.

Rice is the staple food accounting for around 65 per cent of the total cereals consumed, and its present annual per capita consumption is around 100 kg. The amount of rice as a percentage of the total cereal consumed in the country has decreased during the last decade from 75 per cent to around 65 per cent.

Most of the total rice requirement is locally produced. Wheat flour is an important source of carbohydrates in the diet of Sri Lankans accounting to 30 per cent of the cereals consumed in the country.

The present per capita consumption of wheat is around 44 kg. The share of wheat flour in the diet of people has increased from 20 per cent to about 30 per cent during the last decade. The total wheat requirement is imported.

Maize and millet are also cereals, which constitute only about two per cent of the cereals consumed in Sri Lanka. Sugar is another important carbohydrate in the diet of the people.

The average annual consumption of sugar per head is around 31 kg, and contributes approximately 10 per cent of the calorie intake. The total amount of sugar consumed in 2006 was in the region of 600,000 metric tons of which almost 90 per cent was imported.

On an average 1,526,000 t of carbohydrates (rice + wheat + sugar) were imported annually during the past six-year period (2001-2006). The total production of these three items locally is 2,134,000 t during the same period.

If it is assumed that the total annual requirement of these three items during the six-year period is 3,660,000, only 58 per cent is produced locally. If the total food requirement i.e proteins (milk, meat and fish) and fats are also included, this value will be lower.

According to these figures the country has to import almost 40 per cent of the national requirement of carbohydrates, which is critical to supply the energy requirement of the people. To import this amount of food a considerable amount of foreign exchange has to be spent. In 2006, we spent around Rs. 45 billion to import these three items.

Some are of the opinion that we earn this money from crop exports (tea, rubber, coconut etc). We earn around Rs. 130 billion from these export crops, but this is not the net earnings. Even if we can pay for the food imports it is necessary to consider from where we are going to import.

Global food production

The present situation in the food producing countries indicates that there is a shortage of food production. Factors such as drought in Australia, floods in India and China, numerous animal diseases such as Foot and Mouth disease and bird-flu etc., have caused the total food production in the world to decrease.

High fuel prices have prompted many countries to look for alternatives and ethanol made from carbohydrates obtained from crops such maize, cassava, sorghum etc., is an effective alternative to petrol.

Hence, a large extent of land is now used to produce these crops to make ethanol. This is also a contributory factor for the low total food production in the world.

In addition, a number of other factors are responsible for the low level of food production. Among these are high production costs and low profitability, post-harvest losses, inappropriate land use, shortage of water in some parts of the world, declining soil productivity etc.

Thus, the total food production in the world will tend to decrease. Lowered supply of food will definitely increase prices. This is what we are now experiencing in the case of wheat flour and milk powder.

Increase food production

In view of all these, it is timely that the government started a major food production drive. The Ministry of Agriculture has embarked on a food production drive to increase production of rice, and a number of other food crops.

During the past few years numerous programmes such as “AMA”, “Waga Sangramaya” and “Govi Sevana” were implemented but these have not made any impact on the agricultural sector of the country indicated by increasing level of food imports.

Sri Lanka has a wide variation in soil and climate with 24 agro-ecological zones, each characterised by specific climate and soils making it possible to cultivate a number of different types of crops.

With about 2.5 million hectares of hitherto uncultivated/partly cultivated land and nearly one million unemployed people, attaining food security is a reality. There are many critical issues important in achieving food security:

1. Seeds and planting material

High production costs of almost all crops have increased during the recent past causing crop production to be an unprofitable venture.

Most of the agricultural inputs, even those which can be locally produced such as seeds of some crop varieties are imported, which undoubtedly increase their cost of production and increase the chances of new pests and diseases getting introduced into the country.

Non availability of good quality seeds/planting material in adequate amounts limits crop production and causes production costs to go up.

The plant breeders in the Department of Agriculture have developed new high yielding varieties of maize, sweet potato, etc. It is necessary that the planting materials of these varieties are available in adequate amounts.

2. Promoting the use of biological pesticides

A colossal amount of money is spent to import pesticides. However, a number of alterative methods are available to control pests. Among these are use of pesticides developed from those plant species, which contain compounds of fungicidal or insecticidal properties, and application of biological control.

In fact in some countries, biological pest control is widely used in crop production. In Sri Lanka too, biological pest control methods, if developed can be used to control most insect pests and diseases, which will reduce costs and also create more employment opportunities.

3. Promoting organic fertilisers and biological nitrogen fixation

At present, around Rs. 20 billion worth of inorganic fertiliser are imported to Sri Lanka. This amount will continue to rise. Use of locally available fertilisers in agriculture will reduce the present high level of cost of production.

Hence, it is necessary to implement an integrated plan to promote the use of Biological Nitrogen Fixation, organic fertilisers and Eppawela apatite. Replacing inorganic fertilisers, partly with locally produced organic fertilisers would reduce the cost of production of crops.

Organic fertiliser production units, in each village, would maximise utilisation of resources and provide employment on a large scale. Any type of organic material is not suitable to be applied to crops. For example, those made from city wastes may contain toxic elements such as heavy metals.

4. Conducting relevant agricultural research and utilisation of the findings

Findings of hundreds of research projects are presented annually at the annual sessions of numerous institutions such as the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, and Department of Agriculture etc.

But, there appears to be no organised system to utilise these research findings in our efforts to increase productivity in agriculture. There is very little liaison/interaction, and the agricultural research carried out in the country appears to have no positive impact on the food production level in the country.

5. Cultivation of crops such as kurakkan, tuberous crops etc.

As indicated above, we produce only around 50 per cent of food critically required.

This is very perilous, and if a situation arises where we are unable to import wheat, rice and sugar due to shortage of foreign exchange or any other calamity, there would be widespread starvation affecting the poor to a greater extent.

Hence, it essential that the Ministry of Agriculture promotes the cultivation of food crops such as kurakkan (which is called tropical wheat), tuberous crops such as sweet potato, innala etc., and perennial food tree crops (such as jak and del) to increase our food security level.

6. Promoting better agricultural extension

Agriculture extension is a very important aspect of agricultural development. The findings of the research projects need to filter down satisfactorily to the farmers, who are the end-users.

Ideally one ministry should handle all activities related to domestic crop production. At present, while agricultural research is handled by the National Department of Agriculture, agricultural extension in relation to domestic cops is handled by the Provincial Departments of Agriculture.

This situation is more confused by having Intra-Provincial Agricultural Extension, which is managed by the National Department of Agriculture. Confusing this situation further, agricultural extension workers at village level called “Agricultural Research and Production Assistants” are functioning in the Department of Agrarian Services.

7. Establishment of a marketing authority

To make crop production profitable, farmers should get a reasonable price for their products commensurate with cost of production.

However, marketing of agricultural products at a profit to the farmer has become a constraint. Very often, middlemen tend to exploit farmers, who sometimes are forced to dispose their products at almost the cost price.

An efficient marketing organization is essential to minimise this exploitation, through appropriate market intervention.

(The writer is Chairman, Sugarcane Research Institute)