Bright prospects for economy

Geoff Wijesinghe

A peasant who was trundling in a cart, returning from Chavakacheri to Jaffna, told me how he had been ordered to leave Jaffna under pain of death, by the terrorists.

He was a broken old man but, yet he had to labour hard to care for his wife and children. I will never forget what the old man said with tears welling in his eyes, "Sir, the LTTE forced me out of Jaffna when they retreated.

Now that the area has been cleared I am returning home. But, before we left the LTTE terrorists commandeered all my implements, implements that I use to cultivate my banana and vegetable plantation. I detest the LTTE, they are plunderers and murderers operating under the facade of Tamil nationalism, we want peace. Please tell the Government to give us the agricultural implements so that we can resume our normal lives".

The Northerner is a very industrious farmer and who could imagine that within the last few years he would be growing, cabbages, leeks carrots and other vegetables that were only known to grow in the hill country. Today, Jaffna wine is very popular and used as a sacramental wine by Christian churches.

When the A 9 highway now in possession of the Security Forces is fully secured we could see trucks rolling along the highway with produce from the North and the South. Those delectable crabs, prawns, fish and lobsters will not only grace our tables, but will be a connoseur's delight in our tourist resorts. The dried fish from Mannar, so is the fish from the Jaffna lagoon, landed at the picturesque market in Gurunagar.

Soon, the produce from the north, including red onion and murunga will be available in the South and will help bring down the cost of living appreciably. People in both the North and the East have been very receptive to have joint ventures with the private sector, as evidenced by the meetings they have had with the private sector and Government officials.

It is a fact that labour in the North and East is much less expensive than in the South.

For instance one of the main reasons our garment exports are in crisis is that we cannot afford to come down on our labour rates. The labour rates in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan are much lower and meet the drop in two to 3 dollars a piece, while we are sticking to our guns resulting in many factories to be closed.

The question posed by many, is that why don't our workers and the managements get together and say to each other "Look we are in crisis. We don't want to lose our jobs. Have our factory closed down.Let us from top down agree to cut our salaries and our perks, so that at least we will break even and through an agreement with the Management have our salaries and perks restored, in possibly six to 18 months. At least we will have our jobs and have enough for our daily basic needs."

This formula is being introduced successfully in many countries. Why not us?

The apparel industry accounts for around 45 per cent of the country's export revenue and is targeted at the US$10 billion mark in 2010 and beyond and it will consolidate its position in the world market.