Better technology in farming will boost Eastern growth

Anushka Wijesinha Economic Affairs Division, Government Peace Secretariat

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**UNIDO pilot project in Batticaloa should be replicated across the Province

**Higher productivity through micro-irrigation can boost farmers’ incomes in the East

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It is now a fact that the Sri Lankan primary sector has been neglected over the last 12 years, with the emphasis being placed more on growing on the manufacturing and services industries.

Although the long-term thrust areas should indeed be these two sectors, Sri Lanka needs to focus and grow its agriculture sector to leverage on its inherent advantages in cultivation and also to save on valuable foreign exchange being spent on rice and vegetable imports annually.

Those foreign exchange savings can then be used to import investment goods in our quest for higher productivity and value addition, in all sectors.

As per Table 1, the ‘agricultural neglect’ in terms of low investment in the sector has led to a decline in agricultural produce, particularly paddy and vegetables. For over 11 years, production has only grown marginally.

Although the agriculture, livestock and fisheries sector contributes to GDP far less than manufacturing and services, this shouldn’t mean that the sector is neglected, as nearly 32% of the population is employed in it, and this too largely covering rural low-income parts of the country.

The paddy, vegetable and fruits sector has grown at only around 2.5% - 4%, unlike industries which grew at nearly 7%. However, this is all set to change following the liberation of the East and soon to be liberated North, as all those arable lands will become unlocked and supply produce to the national economy.

Unlike industries and service sectors, which will require more infrastructure to be in place and have longer gestation periods to reap the benefits, a return to farming is almost instant, as can already be seen in the Batticaloa district. The return to normal life and the strengthening of the government machinery in the Eastern Province has helped instantly revive farmer livelihoods.

Eastern farmers are ready to make a strong contribution to national agricultural output once more and reverse the agricultural decline. The potential for paddy cultivation in the Eastern Province is vast, with just Ampara, for example, having 300,000 acres of fertile paddy land.

Vegetable and fruit cultivation is also ready to take off, with initiatives already under way to promote farmers to move from subsistence farming to profitable commercial farming.

This, together with supporting value added production, promoting higher productivity farming techniques, and then linking these farmers to global supply chains will certainly bring prosperity to the East. Promoting new technology to improve agricultural productivity, particularly micro-irrigation, is already showing highly encouraging results.

Productivity improvements in practice

Micro irrigation schemes have been implemented in many places across Sri Lanka, but Visvalingam’s vegetable farm in Kaluwanchikudy is one of the first in the Eastern Province to experience the benefits. He participated in a UNIDO funded project to improve agricultural productivity in the region.

Often low-yielding, small plot vegetable cultivation in Sri Lanka has been dominated by the use of unsophisticated farming methods, and the Eastern Province has been particularly backward in this regard, owing to the years of conflict. The UNIDO team found that commercial operators wasted a lot of water and energy due to a lack of knowledge of irrigation techniques and decided that this would be their area of focus.

The biggest challenge was convincing farmers of the potential benefits of new technology. After many seminars, workshops and demonstrations to create awareness among farmers and local government agricultural officers, the project began with some limited interest.

After vetting potential beneficiaries based solely on their enthusiasm and commitment to trying new methods, UNIDO selected Visvalingam. He was badly affected by the war and by the tsunami and found it very hard to access markets and technology, but he was open to the idea.

To ensure sustainability of the project and to guard against a ‘dependency attitude’, Visvalingam had to pay back, in instalments, the cost of the sprinkler kit that was provided through the local farmer organisation, so that these funds could be used to purchase a kit for another selected farmer.

The micro irrigation scheme was installed at Visvalingam’s farm amidst much pessimism, as many farmers believed that it would not work on the sandy soils of the area. However, the benefits are now clearly visible and interest is growing as other farmers are learning about his successes.

New technology

Visvalingam saves a lot of time due to the new technology. Prior to installation of the micro irrigation scheme, he spent around four and a half hours watering his half acre of chilli and quarter acre of onion using a hosepipe and kerosene water pump. Since the introduction of the sprinkler kit, this time has been cut to just two hours. With the extra time on his hands, he has planted a further quarter acre of brinjal, which now brings him an additional Rs. 12,000 per month.

Savings have come in terms of water and fuel used as well. While earlier he used a five litre can of kerosene a day for the water pumps, a can now lasts three days. Following the extension of the national grid electricity to cover his area, he shifted from kerosene to an electric water pump, moving from spending Rs. 800 a month on kerosene to Rs. 567 a month on electricity.

He also saves on an extra worker he used to hire to help with watering. A rather unexpected advantage was that fertiliser application could also be reduced by as much as half, because fertiliser now doesn’t seep below the reach of the plants roots or get so easily washed away, as it did when watering by hose. Instead, the fertiliser stays in the upper soils for longer.

The most significant benefit is the increase in yield. Visvalingam produced around 1,500 kgs of onion before installing the micro irrigation scheme, but now produces 2,000 kgs. He has also noticed that the weight of a sack of chillies had increased from 48-50 kg previously to 55-58 kgs, translating into Rs. 16,000 in additional income per month. Overall, the new technology gives significant cost savings and enhanced income.

With an initial cost of Rs. 55,520 on the sprinkler kit, Visvalingam has made an additional profit of Rs. 210,000. He is now the best ambassador to speak to other farmers on the benefits of shifting to higher productivity farming methods.

Visvalingam also said he can easily help other farmers install the new technology as he is now quite familiar with it. Despite his optimism for the future, however, Visvalingam echoes the gripes of other farmers in the area, remarking that getting micro loans from local banks is nearly impossible.

This is despite him having land to provide as collateral and the apparent introduction of special micro loan schemes for farmers. He also asks that the fertiliser subsidy be extended to vegetable cultivators too, as presently a bag of fertiliser is available at Rs. 300 for paddy farmers but the same bag costs Rs. 2,500 for vegetable farmers. Along with improving access to markets, these are concerns that need to be addressed soon, if farmers like Visvalingam are to see the full benefits of higher productivity vegetable farming.

Policy implications

There is immense potential for agriculture in the East, which has seen little or no growth in the past 10 years. . If the kind of increases in revenue seen in Visvalingam’s vegetable farm could be replicated throughout the Eastern Province, over Rs. 5 billion in new income could be earned. This would raise its GDP by nearly 4.4%. This in turn would raise Eastern GDP growth rates from 10.2% to nearly 15.7%.

Moreover, if Visvalingam’s success in increasing yield on his quarter acre of onion could be matched, the Eastern Province would supply an additional 3,200 MT. Similarly, with increased production of other crops like chillie, brinjal, potatoes, ground nut etc. on the 89,000 acres of vegetable lands and home gardens some headway would be made towards reducing the Rs. 61 billion spent on vegetable imports every year.

To be Continued