RICE: Economic Boom or Bust? Part XV

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 being abandoned, rice production over the last six decades has increased 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 points that history proves rice is both our staple and our stronghold against our many enemies.

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 and our neighbours certainly reciprocate his thoughts, that buffer stock provides a good solution to stabilise our staple, especially with unpredictability unique to agriculture. 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 a good profit while the local consumer getting his rice at the fair price.

However, he continues the socio-fabric has changed drastically since colonisation. While there are advantages with these changes, these also make intricate agricultural projects and concepts like farmer associations impossible. Though farmer associations are a hard sell, they bring forth an array of benefits notes Dean of the Agriculture Department of Peradeniya University Professor Buddhi Marambe.

The discussion continues:

Agriculture is not only the technique and process of growing plants and animals says Professor Marambe. It is also the understanding of living beings to maximise the results; for example - both the crop size as well as quality of the crop. Without these studies, the progress of agriculture is very limited he notes.

While a significant amount of research is been conducted in labs and controlled environments, these must extend to the field as well. There must be a continuous process which involves the farmer as well to monitor the various factors influencing the crops and animals.

The problem of accruing such data from individual plots is that there is no assurance on the consistency or accuracy of data collected. The farmer, without understanding the benefits of such statistics, may not always appreciate the value of collecting data and are thus not always the most reliable source.

Apart from collecting data and calculating and analysing statistics, it is just as important to adapt to current technologies. Without proper and regular extension programmes reaching out to the farmer educating him the benefits of new findings, it is difficult to convince the farmer the need to change from old methodologies and mythologies, continues the Professor.

A method is not effective just because it has been the way for a very long time. Any method, whether old or new, is only effective if it is followed with understanding of its principles.

Another key problem faced in agriculture is the tight finance the farmer almost always faces. If farming is a profitless venture, it would have not succeeded as it had done. Yet, the farmer is almost always in a financial crisis, notes the Professor.

The simple reason here is also lack of extension programmes educating the farmer on better finance management. As farming have relatively long lead periods, the gap between the farmers’ investment and his return is also relatively significant.

Thus the farmer for a considerable period does not see a single cent from his investment. When he gets his return, and especially if the return is considerable, he often does not know how to prioritise his money.

This is one of the main reasons that in agricultural districts like Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and so on electrical goods item shops are a thriving business. One of the first investments the farmer makes upon receiving his profits is on electrical goods such as Hi-Fi systems and large televisions.

Then, a couple of months later these are pawned back to the same electrical goods shops when the farmer needs finance to plough his fields again.

As a result, the farmer can never improve on his life and is always economically challenged.

It is not because he falls in the bracket of low income earners for he does not. He simply does not have the knowledge to manage his finances better, comments the Professor. 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