Debate - Rajmi Manatunge

The crisis farmers face

L.M. Samarasinghe

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Global food crisis:

Causes and solutions

Food prices have been going up around the world. Asia has been particularly affected because of the rise in the prices of rice, the region's staple.

Several reasons have been cited for the unprecedented rise in global food prices: The use of crops for biofuel, which has robbed the hungry of various food items. The rise in oil prices has also driven up food transport costs, which are reflected in the customers' bill. The changing climate patterns have adversely affected agriculture, as droughts and floods continue to destroy crops.

But what are the answers ? The Government has initiated the Api Wawamu Rata Nagamu (let us grow more food to develop the Nation) programme. Likewise, Governments around the world are proposing or implementing solutions to the food crisis. Many world leaders are also calling for a moratorium on biolfuels.

Do write in (less than 1,000 words) with your views on the subject and any solutions you espouse on 'Global Food Crisis: Causes and Solutions' on or before June 2, 2008 to Daily News Debate, Daily News, Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited, PO Box 1217, Colombo, or via e-mail to [email protected].

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The small farmer was always the main producer of rice and ensured the availability of rice for the needs of the people of our country.

During the last three or four decades the rice farmers have been driven into more and more difficulties and the chances are that it is quite possible the production of rice will cease within the next thirty or forty years and the people would have to depend entirely on the imports from other countries. The authorities, it must be stated, have been quite blind to what has happened. Many forces have been quite active in making the rice farmer a helpless person.

The traditional systems that provided the necessary strength to the farmers have disappeared. At present the farmer has to hire the tractor from the tractor Mudalali who is quite an influential person. The farmer has to pay Rs. 5,000 or more to get one acre of land ploughed once.

The buffaloes have disappeared and the relevant authorities are not much concerned about this serious situation.

The farmer has to employ workers to do the necessary manual work connected with the cultivation and production of rice. The daily payment for each worker is around Rs. 800 per day and the total cost of labour for the entire cultivation operation is most prohibitive and is beyond the capacity of the average farmer to bear.

The imported fertiliser and pesticides are very expensive and the farmer is in a helpless situation.

Many farmers find that the total cost of production exceeds the income they got from the produce. There is already a noticeable reduction in the cultivated extent of paddy lands in many parts of the country.

During the last two decades of the period of British Administration and during the two decades after gaining Independence the rural farmers enjoyed a fair degree of easy movement in their paddy farming practices.

There were Government Farms almost in every district, which provided guidance to paddy farmers and other agricultural activities. The farmers also purchased seed paddy and other requirements from the Government Farms in some districts. The traditional farming ensured the degree of success for the cultivation operations. What were these traditional farming practices?

The most important farming practice was the holding of a "Kaiya" to carry out the cultivation activities. The main activities would consist of ploughing, sowing, transplanting, weeding, harvesting and threshing.

The field owners invited everyone in the village to participate in the 'Kaiya' and all persons enjoying good health did participate at this 'Kaiya'. The field owners also organised a grand lunch which was brought to the paddy land location and everyone enjoyed the meal.

The extents of paddy land owned by the different persons varied. Some owned bigger extents of land while others owned smaller extents. But the farming activity was carried on from one end to the other until the entire extent was covered.

The heavy machines were the buffaloes and some farmers did not own buffaloes. But that did not affect the preparation of their fields. All fields were ploughed using a pool of buffaloes. The only expense involved was the cost of the grand lunch prepared for the occasion.

Weeding was a special occasion when the ladies of the village participated and they sang while weeding and the entire village could hear the singing on that weeding ceremony.

Threshing was done by night by harnessing the buffaloes and the operations were managed by the healthy bodied elders of the village and active young men.

Example from Thailand

Thailand is the country that produces the largest quantity of rice, and they export a large part of it. Thailand produces a tractor too. But they don't keep the small farmer at the mercy of the market forces and tractor owners. They were doing everything possible to keep the traditional practices relating to paddy cultivation alive and safe.

At the beginning of the cultivation season the first ploughing at the auspicious time is carried out by the King. The farmers in the entire country start their ploughing following the start given by the King.

With the patronage, guidance and enthusiasm of the king they started a buffalo Bank in 1979 to ensure the supply of buffaloes to the small farmers. This is not a business venture.

It is a national program to assist the small farmers at no extra cost to them. The buffaloes are given to the farmers for the use and while the buffalo is with the farmer and if it is a female and delivers a male calf it is gifted to the farmer. But if the calf is a female it has to be given to the bank pool. Persons who cultivate large extents of paddy land plough with the tractor. But the small farmer is safe with the buffalo.

Historical background

Compare this situation with the plight of the small farmer here in Sri Lanka. He is under tremendous pressure from the tractor Mudalali, the labour market, the traders who control the fertiliser market and also the transport agents.

The position and protection that the small farmer enjoyed under the traditional pattern has vanished and there is no indication that the authorities are aware of the plight of the small farmer. Even during the later period of the British administration the small farmer, enjoyed a higher degree of independence.

Rice cultivation had been the main activity of the people of this country for many thousands of years. Long before the arrival of the Aryans with Vijaya in the 6th century B.C. rice was being cultivated and rice was the main item that the ancient sea traders from the mediterranean region, Persia, Arabia and other regions carried away.

Some of the old South Indian literature refer to store houses built close to some of the Ports of the Eastern Coast of South India to store rice from Sri Lanka for the convenience of sea traders of the ancient world. To facilitate the cultivation of rice the ancient people had a system of village tanks to collect rain water in the Dry Zone region and a system of anicuts in the hilly region.

After the arrival of the Aryan the unique system of irrigation developed and some of the famous kings built vast reservoirs to store water and also developed unique devices such as the Bisokotuwa for the safe discharge of water from the vast reservoirs to irrigate the rice fields.

There had been bad periods when rains failed to considerably long periods of time and rice cultivation became impossible. But the most successful system of rice cultivation and the unique irrigation and water management system they had developed was without parallels anywhere else in the world.

Rajatarangani written by Kalhana in the 12th century records that during the 8th century when Jayapida was the king of Kashimir reservoir builders and irrigation experts from Lanka were invited to build reservoirs in Kashmir.

Restoration of the ancient system of cultivation and irrigation

The Land Development ordinance was passed in 1935 to facilitate the alienation of State land to landless persons. The population of Sri Lanka around that time was six million and we produced only 10% of the total requirement of rice in the country. The balance 90% had to be imported from outside.

D.S. Senanayake was our Minister of Agriculture and Lands at that time and he made all efforts to restore the ancient irrigation system and opened up colonisation schemes in the Dry Zone regions.

He encouraged landless people from the populated wet zone region to take over state land and cultivate rice on lands for which irrigation facilities were provided. Each farmer who came to take over the newly asweddumised land was given a permanent house, a pair of buffaloes, mosquito nets and a monthly financial allowance for a period of six months by which time the farmer gets his first crop of rice from the new land. The paddy lands had been suitably prepared and irrigation facilities provided adequately before they were entrusted to the new settlers.

D.S. Senanayake also encouraged the newly settled colonists to utilise the traditional cultivation practices that they had practised in their old villages. All of them practised the 'Kaiya' system and the cultivation process became quite simple and successful.

Thanks to the sincere effort of Senanayake as Minister of Agriculture and Lands the development process gathered momentum and after about 50 years when the population of the country had increased to about 18 million we were producing 90% of our total rice requirement and had to import only 10%.

World food Crisis: world under attack

R. F. Maria Dineshan

For the Humans the life span has increased because of development of science and the advancement of medical science. But the recent food scarcity and increases in price has become a great blow to the Humanity in a world millions of people are poverty stricken.

The scarcity of food products that had given way to price increases has affected a majority of people in every country in the world. The most important thing in the life of every living being is food and that it should be wholesome and nutritious food.

The food crisis that had developed in many countries both developed as well as undeveloped as well poor poverty stricken countries has been compared by some intellectuals basing on the Tsunami that divested Asia in 2004 as a "Silent Tsunami".

There is news that in several countries there are food riots taking place due to the scarcity of food and exorbitant food prices. In Morocco 34 persons had been imprisoned for engaging food riots. In Yemen 12 persons had got killed during food riots. Food riots had taken place in Indonesia as well as in Italy.

The increase in population of the world which has attracted the concern of the world has now started showing its gruesome face. Because of that more and more arable land is becoming inhabitable lands. When forests are destroyed to build houses and dwelling places the wild animal that loose their dwelling habitats enter into cultivated lands and start to destroy and damage food crops.

The continuing climatic changes had been attracting the concern of the world in the recent past now had taken a worst turn. Untimely and unseasonable rain falls and the resultant unusual floods and the dry seasons that follow are causing destruction of cultivated food. Due to the unusual heavy rain falls last March the rice cultivation in Sri Lanka was much affected. The result was scarcity of rice the main stable food and the need to import rice.

The increase in price of petroleum fuel due to the increase in the price of crude oil has increase the cost of cultivation as well as the cost of transport of food products. The cost of animal feed has gone up and the expense incurred in the production of one unit meat is much more than that of the price of the unit of meat and it is a diseconomy.

The fall of the value of the American dollar and its fluctuation in value has an adverse affect on the world economy. The more the value of the American dollar falls the more is the increase in price of goods in the other countries of the world.

International organisations and countries of the world are taking interests and steps regarding the crisis situation faced by the whole of the humanity living world wide.

Conferences and discussions are held and short term and immediate actions as well as long term and durable actions are being implemented to redeem the world from the dangerous situation that had cropped up devastate the human world at large.

The solutions

The use of grains and edible seeds for the production of gases and fuels should be permanently stopped. While millions of people are suffering without food to eat and exist the using of their food to produce electricity is a grave mistake. And therefore it should be stopped altogether. The OPEC countries should be pressurized to reduce the prices of petroleum fuels. The use of windmills, sea wave power and solar energy to produce electricity should be encouraged.

The reliance on certain food stuffs for nutrition should be changed. The examples for these are wheat flour and rice. More than three billion people are depending on these as their stable food. More and more yams sea foods and vegetables should be consumed as an alternative for the main staple foods.

This will loosen the demand for rice and wheat flour for food. In Sri Lanka the consumption of wheat flour the baking of other wheat based food in the cities and in the hill country areas. Price of bread is said to be one of the factors that influenced in the engaging of ruling governments. When the prices of wheat flour went up very often the government encouraged the people to consume rice instead of bread and that had brought is considerable reductions in the demand for wheat flour.

Improvement of agricultural activities and production is another necessity to overcome the food scarcity. The farmers should be encouraged to adopt improved varieties of food crops that can withstand the climatic and seasonal changes and are resistant to plant diseases.

Providing agricultural inputs at reduce subsidized prices and purchasing and storing agricultural yields at guaranteed fair prices will encourage and give hope to the farmers to engage in more agricultural production activities. It is a fact that in some parts of India farmers who sustained losses due to destruction of crops by a diverse whether conditions had even committed suicide.

Some farmers has given up agriculture and sought employment in other sectors even at lesser wages just to make a living.

Helping the farmers to safeguard their crops from being destroyed by wild animals is very important for the increase of food production. Utilising uncultivated land also is very important. Sri Lankan government is taking more interest in this matter. It is said that China is going to take on lease lands in other countries to cultivate food. Brazil has decided and started destroying its rain forests to convert them into agricultural lands.

Some agricultural products are converted into animal feed to increase the meat production. This should be discouraged or banned in some countries. This could be affected by legal controls and increases taxation on such industries. When meat is consumed the bones skins and blood of the animals that were farmed from the food they have eaten to live and all that goes to waste as refuse.

The home garden cultivation should be encouraged. As the land area utilized for agriculture is decreasing it would be a good effect to resort to home garden cultivation and cultivation in pots and containers.

The Sri Lankan government under it campaign of "Api wawamu Rata nagamu" (Let us grow more food to develop the nation) is doing a good and worthy service to the nation as well as increasing food production.

By stabling the value of the dollar, improving food storage facilities, elimination of or reduction of the wastage of grains while handling and transporting and control of consumption could bring about a solution for the present food crisis the world is facing.

The present food shortage and scarcity is a world wide problem. We singly as a nation and in cooperation with world wide efforts and do whatever that is possible that will help the burden the world is facing from the food crisis.

Implementation of right technology

Dilip Fernando

First of all I wish this timely debate will have a positive influence to the thinking of our nation. It goes without saying that Sri Lanka has the highest potential of effectively and efficiently facing this global food crisis.

I hereby wish to enrich this debate with few facts that exposes certain drawbacks in implementing proper solutions for the problem.

Among the major difficulties in facing this problem, the followings are significant.

Corrupt and inefficient officials

Fake scientists

Dirty politics

Unawareness of farmers and etc.

Government is implementing huge programmes on development of Agriculture. But who are the leaders of these programmes and their minor projects? Are those objectives achieved at the given times? These are implemented through corrupt and inefficient officials (there may be exceptions).

What these officials do is they prepare huge amount of documents and call for meetings (with lavish meals otherwise nobody comes), arrange useless visits, inaugural ceremonies and advanced publicity with majority of the allocated funds.

They efficiently keep the names of the higher officials and ministers at the top so that they will never be blamed of misuse of money. This system has to be addressed well. Once, a veterinary office was opened with minister's presence few months back.

It is estimated the expenditure for the opening was about Rs 1 million. At least this office was not equipped with the basic needs even. The same ministry arranged an award ceremony and an exhibition (it is not bad) to boost the sector but it was ended with huge misuse of public money.

NLDB is running at a loss! Even with this higher milk prices. Has the officials surveyed the causes? And did they try to minimise them? No. A veterinary officer with a team had researched on this in main NLDB farms including Bopaththalawa and Dayagama, and presented the results in a scientific community where all the officials concerned were present.

The officer concluded that "an average cow commenced her productive life in these farms with an initial loss of approximately Rs. 1 00 000.00". This was mainly due to poor management conditions, where Embryo Transfer Technology was to be practised.

Listening to this, what those officials did was just laughing on the results and conclusions. (Just make a rough calculation assuming that Bopaththalawa farm alone has about 300 cows, 100000 x 300 ) This must and can be reduced through proper management which includes Selection and culling programme (as it was done earlier).

Otherwise with this management importation of cows (which offers dirty officials to misuse much money for their useless tours and etc.) will only be a politically achieved huge burden to the country.

After a dry period, coconut production usually declines. This is aggregated by mita problem which has been well addressed by several methods introduced by CRI (Coconut Research Institute) but in implementing those methods, relevant authority does hardly anything to disseminate these information to the actual field. This is a recurrent problem and officials must effectively work here. (Splitting of coconut lands is not discussed here as it is similar with the paddy problem.)

Awareness of farmers and scientists

Many Farming systems require implementation of right technology. Sometimes our traditional systems are the best while sometimes it is not. So researchers and farmers must work together to identify the existing and potential problems and finding the solutions. Scientists must prioritise what to do first and next.

There are & agriculture faculties and several research institutions in different locations. They must be involving in agri sector development in their own province and then for the whole country.

There are about 600 agri graduate pass outs annually and that means about 600 researches which rarely come into the actual field on need. Our researches are far away from what they need to search. Having funds for a research and just doing anything that has been done elsewhere must be stopped right now.