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Decline of coconut prices

A decline in the Farm Gate Prices for coconuts will create a long term negative set back to the coconut growing industry. The annual peak crops harvested during June, July and August and it is very unfortunate the Duty on Imported Edible Oil was slashed down to 5 per cent and thereby, depressing the Farm Gate Price of Coconuts.

At the Colombo Coconut Auctions held on August 28 whilst the average and the highest bids have ranged at Rs. 19 per nut, the lowest had been Rs. 17/50. Accordingly, the traders who buy coconuts from the farmers will naturally pay approximately Rs. 17 to Rs. 16 at the Farm Gate level, having taken into consideration the cost of husking, transport etc.

With the increase in cost of production, due to high cost of fertiliser, labour rates, increasing overheads as a result of high fuel cost, cost of pesticide and weedicide, it is practically impossible to maintain coconut land, unless we see a reasonable increase in Farm Gate Price.

The cost of fertiliser is approx. Rs. 90,000 per M/Ton for Adult Palms and Rs. 60,000 for Young Palms. These prices are exorbitantly high and the growers cannot afford. Whilst time is fast reaching to use organic fertiliser, here again, due to limited resources and the cost of application of organic fertiliser, create practical difficulty in implementation.

Although the duty on edible oil has been increased to 15 per cent perhaps due to a large volume of edible oil imported to the country, there had not been a reasonable increase in the Farm Gate Price of Coconuts.

To add insult to injury, Vanaspathi Manufacturers are pressurising import and marketing of palm oil in Sri Lanka, which will obviously kill the coconut oil industry.

Therefore, the Authorities concerned, should give a serious look at the current scenario, and take effective measures to step up the Farm Gate Price of Coconuts and relief measures for fertiliser.


Middle East returnees are penalised

The women who risk so much and go for work in the Middle East deserve generous rewards. It is mean and unkind to deprive them of the benefits when they return to the country. I was very upset to read a news item that the Customs has decided to exclude from their duty free purchases, the large size refrigerators and TVs, air conditioners and several other goods.

It is a fact that most of what they buy duty free, at times are purchased by traders at the airport. On these goods these women make a profit.

This is a benefit they look forward to. The profit they earn is higher on the high priced goods. The Customs has removed those high priced goods from the list of permitted goods. This is an unkind blow to the poor returneres and a bonus to big time importers of these goods who will now increase their market prices.

It is likely that the Customs is trying to meet the target revenue collections given to them by the Ministry of Finance - the importers would pay duty when they import these goods to meet the market demand.

By removing the high priced goods from the list of permitted goods, Customs are depriving the poor returnees of the meagre income they make from the duty free goods they are entitled to.

This is robbing the poor to benefit the rich. I am sure the authorities would realise the injustice and intervene and the press will give equal publicity to the correction of this injustice.


Olympic squad

I agree with the writer of the above titled article (DN. Aug. 27) that our Olympic and other international contingents should be trained in a meaningful manner.

They must be told to select a bunch of athletes at the eleventh hour for the sake of representing the country.

When will Sri Lanka sports learn lessons? This is like playing the violin to the deaf.


No basic facilities

Nugegoda, a village situated close to Waskaduwa, Kalutara is facing many difficulties. These villagers lack the basic facilities. They don’t have a post office or a sub-post office, an office for the Grama Niladhari and poor transport service after nightfall.

Residents of both Nugegoda and Delduwa are very much worried mostly about communication and telephone facilities without at least an agent post office.

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