Grievances of Sammanthurai paddy farmers

On either side of the road lay vast stretches of fallow fields that had been laid to rest after reaping the Yala (June-September) harvest. This is Sammanthurai, the leading area in paddy farming in the Ampara District. Compared to the island yield of 80 bushels per acre, Ampara yields 100, providing one-sixth or 20 per cent of the local rice production. Sammanthurai farmers yield 120 bushels or 2,800 kilos, being under strict orders to cultivate Bathalagoda-94-1 paddy variety which has an age of 3.5 months.

Ampara District paddy farmers are known to be very able and experienced, constituting 40-45 per cent Muslims, 30-35 per cent Tamils and the rest Sinhalese. Being in farming for generations, they work hard and have become skilled cultivators. Muslims are in farming villages.

Both Podiyars (large paddy land owners) and small holders of less than five acres are there. The latter is more and about half the number of farmers work in paddy land owned by other farmers. Sinhala farmers live in colonies. Many government officers cultivate paddy as their traditional vocation. The district has 29 Agrarian Services Centres registered under Agrarian Development Act No. 46 of 2000.

Sammanthurai, formerly under Kalmunai Division, is now a separate division. This alone has 9,392 acres of paddy land and 3,009 paddy cultivating families. Kekulu samba and Ambalantota-362 paddy variety are also bred here.

22 Farmer organizations are registered in Sammanthurai Agrarian Services Centre. A farmer organization covers a particular area, called yaya in Sinhala and kandam in Tamil.

The names go as Seguwapattu (area name) Kandam Farmer Organization, Theviyenvattai West Kandam Farmer Organization, etc.

In Malwatta Agrarian Services Centre on Sammanthurai-Ampara Road, 31 farmer organizations are registered, covering 4,283 farmer families. 12,878 acres of paddy land is cultivated in Yala, when water is scarce, and 13,429 acres in Maha (October-January) when rains come. The area is serviced by major irrigation. Malwatta farmers constitute 3,735 Muslims, 520 Tamils and 28 colonised Sinhalese. Muslims cultivate in Malwatta but live in Sammanthurai.

Ruhunugama is a colony near Sammanthurai. Karunawantha from Ruhunugama Bedumgala farmer organization informed that the colony held 700 farming families and about 150 land owners, owning about four acres each.

The organization had obtained government fertilizer for 900 acres. Their second generation turning to paddy farming was more than the portion changing into other livelihood pursuits.

Jayanthi LIYANAGE in Ampara

Last September, with Yala over and anticipating rains to begin Maha cultivation, about 20 members and chairmen of farmer organizations gathered at the Sammanthurai Agrarian Services Centre to tell the Daily News of a few discouragements they faced in farming. Many spoke in Tamil and Sammanthurai Agrarian Development Officer S.M. Saheed translated for us.

A.P. Mohideen Bawa, the son of a Podiyar, and Project Management Committee Chairman of Moravil, which is one of the five irrigation sections under Gal Oya River Division Irrigation Engineering Unit, said that in Yala, the farmers could only cultivate the acreage which is issued with water. “Usually, all the fields are cultivated in Yala,” explained Saheed. “Last Yala, shortage of rain resulted in the main tank Senanayake Samudraya not being filled and our Government Agent (GA) decided not to cultivate 6,000 acres in Sammanthurai.”

The issue was further explained by Sammanthurai Irrigation Department Engineer U.L.M. Afeez whom we met later. “The department irrigates 23,000 acres using two systems,” he said. “Water is not a problem in the River Division, using water of five rivers including Gal Oya River. It is a problem in the Channel Division which uses tank water. Senanayake Samudraya is the main tank. The head-end of the channel system has about 7,000 acres and the tail-end, 3,000, covered by the Veeragoda tank. Water shortage is more at the tail-end.” The channel system does not function well due to poor maintenance as funds are not sufficient, he said. “Agriculture Department provides Rs.200 per acre annually. If that can be increased to Rs.1,000, including office maintenance, channels will function better. Now we give farmer organizations a little money to clean the channels. We received some funds under Gal Oya Navodaya but need machinery such as excavators, backhoes and tractors to clear the channels specially during flood times.” Agriculture Department promised a set of machinery under Gal Oya Navodaya. “The Ampara range has 150,000 acres of which 120,000 are covered by Senanayake Samudraya. Minor irrigation and other tanks cover 30,000. Parts of Sammanthurai come under the river system and left bank system of the Senanayake Samudraya scheme. If the whole area comes under the scheme, farmers of this area will benefit. Now all of them have difficulty in silting but we don’t have funds to cover that.”

Fertilizer was another bone of contention. Saheed told the Daily News that under Mahinda Chinthanaya, paddy farmers receive subsidised fertilizer from 2006. But fertilizer bags do not arrive on time from Colombo, resulting in several Agrarian Services Centres distributing among each other’s farmer organizations what remains in their storerooms. “When our stocks are distributed among several Agrarian Services Centres, a farmer gets very little into his hands. Sammanthurai store can accommodate only 1,000 bags while Sammanthurai farmer organizations need 42,000 bags per season.” Saheed called for adequate storage facilities, explaining that Agriculture Department recommended 125 kilos urea, 45 kilos TSP and 35 kilos MOP for an acre of paddy field.

Fertilizer was the biggest difficulty at Malwatta Agrarian Services Centre as later told us by Malwatta Agrarian Development Officer U.L. Wathooth. “According to government regulations, if 500 kilos of paddy per hectare cannot be reaped, no fertilizer is given. Then Malwatta farmers have to go to Sammanthurai,” he said. “Although fertilizer stored at Sammanthurai is given to us, their store is not large enough. Malwatta needs 58,000 bags per one cultivating season in a year. Last season, when Lak Pohora, government fertilizer, was late, through GA we got down commercial fertilizer from Colombo. We had to give Sammanthurai also as they asked for half of it. When they received government fertilizer, we were under less pressure. Commercial fertilizer arrives fast and this season, we are trying to get 100 per cent commercial fertilizer. If we do not get enough Lak Pohora, how can we give all 53 farmer organizations in Malwatte and Sammanthurai?” Wathooth asked.

Marketing of paddy was another issue discussed at Sammanthurai. “For the farmers to get a good profit, there must be competition among millers, private traders and the re-established Paddy Marketing Board (PMB),” Saheed pointed out. “PMB buys samba at Rs.30 per kilo and long paddy variety BG-34-31 at Rs.28.” Sammanthurai has 40 rice mills run by private millers and the neighbouring village, Nindavur, has 15. M.A. Mohamed, a chairman of a farmer organization, commented that if PMB buys more paddy from the farmers, a satisfactory price level can be maintained while Bawa asked for a price increase from the government, as the cost of production was high.

The farmer organizations also asked that agro-chemicals, weedicides and insecticides, be given to them at a subsidy, or that the government take stern action to reduce their price, stressing that this can increase the paddy yield. “Farmers still do not use natural methods of ridding pests. The weed killer, Gramazone, comes to the market under several trade names and every season the price goes up by Rs.300, 500 or 700. Now, it is sold at Rs.3,000.” Saheed said. “”From 90-105 days, the Brown Plant Hopper (BPH) attacks paddy sheaves. If you cultivate 10 acres, BPH destroys one acre. At times, its is immune to one insecticide and you have to change to another. During this time, insecticides such as Admire, BPMC, Apload, Koinor, Superthin and Actara are sold here at exorbitant prices and farmers do not have money to buy them.” He also added that farmers needed to be educated on the need to use organic fertilizer as chemical fertilizer could at times harm rice plants while one farmer commented that Salvinia easily available in the area could be made into fertilizer.

Sammanthurai had 125,000 cattle but no pasture grounds, said A.P.M. Bawa. Sammanthurai Dairy Farmer Organization Chairman Aliyar Mohideen Bawa added that 150,000 dairy farmers lived in the area and supplied milk to MILCO. “MILCO has a capacity for 25,000 litres of milk but the farmers can supply only 10,000. If there is a pasture land for cows, the litreage will improve,” responded another daily farmer. Malwatta too did not have a pasture land and as farmers did not like taking their cattle 23 miles beyond to Inginiyagala, a decision needed to come from the GA on demarcating land, was the view of Wathooth.

Sammanthurai Zone Peace Education Co-ordinator Mohamed brought to notice that a paddy land of 700 acres, named Karanga, in Karandaputi, cleared and cultivated by Muslims in the nineteen forties had to be left untouched during the terrorist threat. With the war over, some people living in the area had encroached into the land. The GA had intervened in the dispute created and asked the land to be given back to Muslims. Another land of 500 acres under a similar dispute received an identical decision.

Crop damage by wild elephants was an issue that had been resolved by the Wild Life Department (WLD), erecting electric fencing. This reduced to Rs.10, the Rs.250 per acre per season, previously collected from a farmer to finance watchers guarding over fields. “The government must issue instructions to the WLD to maintain the fence effectively,” said Saheed while Wathooth pointed out that the fence is now to be shifted as the Survey Department instructed.

The farmers asked that funds be given to build bridges over waterways. Drainage had broken through one embankment of Senanayake Samudraya and repairs were needed. Funds for irrigation activity were low and they requested that the present water draining project, that was carried out in the area, be completed soon. Wathooth asked for a paddy store for Malwatta, saying that about two acres of land was available and it could reduce expenses of Ampara colony farmers who had to go to Sammanthurai for paddy sold at Rs.1.10 per kilo to a farmer organization.

The final grievance, mentioned by A.P.M. Bawa, was that the land allocated to a Seed Paddy Research Centre in Aleaddiwattai remained unused for the past 30 years.

(We thank Sammanthurai Group Correspondent for Lake House N.M.M. Fuard who arranged for us to meet chairmen and members of farmer organizations at Agrarian Services Centre at Sammanthurai.)