Business Dining

RICE: Economic Boom or Bust? Part XII

Bojoon.com and CIC has teamed up to review one of the most controversial debates of Sri Lanka - is rice as an industry worth the effort.

The discussion so far...

Rice as an industry comes under heavy fire as unprofitable notes Senior Consultant Researcher of CIC Agri Businesses Dr. Sumith Abeysiriwardena. Yet, instead of been abandoned, rice production over the last six decades has increased by 12 times!

He points out the tremendous demand for rice, as a grain easy to handle and the only crop for marshy lands. With our technology and unique hydraulic systems our productivity is high and history proves rice is both our staple and our stronghold against our many enemies.

He describes while other countries have made a viable export and domestic industry, we have decreased our rice consumption for wheat, making us economically vulnerable. He feels that buffer stock provides a good solution to stabilise our staple, especially with unpredictability unique to agriculture.

Our neighbours seem to be reciprocating his very thoughts. MD/CEO of Agri Businesses Keerthi Kotagama calculates that even with the best estimates, rice shortage is imminent at least at the tail end of year 2008, and a buffer stock is the only solution to address this immediate problem.

Kotagama continues that with increased production of ethanol due to increasing fuel prices and globalisation, the world is about to face a severe rice shortage.

The intervention programmes of our immediate neighbours, though taken with the country’s interests at heart, are causing unintended and long-term repercussions threatening to create a hungrier world.

Conversely, this has provided Sri Lanka a strategic moment that if used right would propel its rice industry to new levels.

By developing the export market, Kotagama calculates that the farmer stands to earn at least Rs. 30,000.00 per acre, while the local consumer getting his rice at the fair price of Rs. 70.00 per kg.

The socio-fabric has changed drastically since colonisation, continues Kotagama. While there are advantages with these changes such as ease of social mobility, these are not geared to sustain the intricate projects of the by-gone eras.

The discussion continues:

As restrictive as the system of pre-colonisation seems with the king holding unlimited power over his subjects, the power was really held by the people than the king notes Kotagama.

He continues, because the people had the power to change matters that affect them on a day-to-day basis, and only the larger problems moved upwards in the seat of power, people were empowered and were seen as individuals of the system.

This, he states, is democracy in its purest form - where the sovereignty ultimately lies with the people. The problem with the present day democracy is that the individual has got submerged in the system and the individual needs are no longer heard or addressed. This is the converse of democracy.

There is no one no longer appointed from the grass-root levels onwards to be responsible for the individual tasks that collectively contribute to the maintenance and improvements of a community, which in turn contributes to the individual.

Thus, even to address a small issue nowadays requires the attention of a larger authority. The chain of command is so long that decision making of even the simplest or most obvious has become a tedious and a time consuming task.

That is why, even the simplest infrastructural maintenance such as our roads, bridges and canals have fallen into derelict for the simple reason there is no single individual to be held responsible. The individuals have got submerged within organisations and bodies of authority.

Hence, the only time now an individual’s needs and views are allowed is during an election, but after his candidate is elected, the individual again becomes a powerless, lost entity in the system.

To make matters worse, the candidate himself is often a part of the party system and he himself is submerged within his party. Unless he is at the very upper echelons of the party, he himself has no feasible opportunity to express his views and be heard.

This has led not only to a string of broken promises, but also to a system that works on a who-knows-who basis.

To get a simple matter like a child to a school or career advancement sorted out, one would have to be in the correct circle - the system no longer assures it. Therefore, people now have grown inwards in outlook and has ceased to see themselves as valued entities of a community.

The emphasis is now more on rights of an individual than duties to the community. People now place more value on ownership of property than their responsibility in ensuring that that property is invested for the betterment of future generations.

These are moral values influenced by the Western cultures that had to fight for their rights through the industrial revolution and so forth. However, reminds Kotagama, ancient cultures like Sri Lanka always believed that your rights automatically falls in place if you perform all your duties well.

Join Daily News next Friday as bojoon.com unravels with CIC many mysteries and misinterpretations surrounding rice cultivation in Sri Lanka. Share your own opinion by simply dropping an email to [email protected]. For more information of who we are, do visit www.bojoon.com.

Crab Ensemble at Galle Face Hotel

Gourmets can taste a range of delicious dishes turned out with fresh crabs from the catch of the day from the Indian Ocean, when Galle Face Hotel launches its ‘Crab Ensemble’ at the Sea Spray Restaurant from July 15-24.

A treat of a lifetime for Crab Connoisseurs - baked, boiled, grilled, cooked, whichever way you like it, Galle Face Hotel chefs will do the magic. An absolutely delightful array of dishes to go with it. The Crab Ensemble will offer pepper crabs, chilli crab, baked crab, curried crab with drumstick leaves, crab with ginger, garlic and scallion, boiled crab, grilled crab, the list is endless.

hSenid to automate HR at Mount Lavinia Hotel

Mount Lavinia hotel, which is considered one of the oldest hotels in Sri Lanka, has signed up with hSenid to automate its Human Resource Management and Development activities.

The fully functional human resource information system can cover the entire HR operations of Mount Lavinia Hotel which includes maintaining electronic copies of personnel files of this 200 year old hotel plus tracking history records of its employees; online leave application, employee attendance tracking and many more.

The solution is packed with rich analysis report generation tools, which have been developed considering the different user groups that would be interacting with the solution. hSenid HRM Enterprise, a fully web-based HRIS solution will bring the industry’s best HR processes to Mount Lavinia Hotel, and the solution will fine tune and streamline HR processes and make life easy for HR staff as well as its employees.

Ceylon Continental goes Goan

For all you Goan food lovers, we have just the place to indulge in traditional Goan food at the Tandoor Authentic North Indian Restaurant of the Ceylon Continental Hotel Colombo. Goan food fiesta will come alive from 23 to 27 July at Tandoor during dinner time.

Our Indian kitchen brigade has geared up to make this food fiesta a memorable one.

There will be special Goan dishes on the cards such as prawn vindaloo, Goan fish curry, seafood biriyani, paneer jalfrazi, Goan style crab masala, vegetable pulao and mutton do piyaza and many more delicious and exciting dishes will be on offer.

Last but not least, all guests could enjoy a range of fresh salads, soup and a yummy dessert buffet which will be on from 7.00 p.m. to 11.00 p.m. during the festival.

This is your chance to explore the real authentic Goan food at Ceylon Continental Hotel, Colombo.