Floods and food security

Prof Krishan Deheragoda
Sri Jayewardenepura University
Geography Department

More than one million people have been displaced by the flooding in Sri Lanka, killing over 50 people caused by La Nina phenomenon propagated North East Monsoon rains that were heavier than usual seasonal rains.

These heavy rains have caused unprecedented scale of floods and landslides, during the second week of January 2011 and fourth week of January to the second week of February particularly causing devastating impacts in 16 districts of Northern, Eastern, Central, North Central, North Western, Sabaragamuwa and Uva Provinces.

Also the country has recorded the lowest ever temperatures for the past 60 years during this period.

This is the biggest ever flood disaster recorded in the history of this country and its impact was second only to that of the Tsunami of 2004. However from the spatial perspective, this has affected more geographical area than in Tsunami.

According to the official sources the displaced people have been accommodated at 591 temporary relief camps in January and 744 camps in February and the material loses to the property and the infrastructure is over Rs 40 and Rs 50 billion respectively in January and February.

The Government has taken effective measures to rescue the victims of the floods and the land-slides and to extend the relief to the affected, while mobilizing the Government officials, Armed Forces, Police and the political authorities to the affected areas under the directions of the President.

The President had warned the Cabinet on January 14, 2010, that the country should brace itself for a food shortage, as over 123,740 ha of paddy land or 40 percent of the total harvested (269,000 ha), have been devastated by the floods. This situation will be more serious when taking into account the devastations caused during the latest flooding and land-slides experienced the country since the fourth week of January to the second week of February 2011.

This time around 230,000 hectares of harvested lands were inundated and crops were destroyed, over 400 tanks and irrigation works have been damaged while thousands of cattle and poultry were killed. The cumulative impact of these devastations on the agricultural, animal husbandry and inland fisheries production and thereby on the food security of the country will be very serious.

Global scenario

Due to the current extreme weather conditions induced floods and crop failures including prolonged droughts in the countries across Asia, Pacific, Australia, Europe and the two American Continents and Africa, there is overwhelming, undeniable evidence that the world will run out of food during this year.

When this happens, the resulting triple digit food inflation will lead panicking Central Banks around the world to dump their foreign reserves to appreciate their currencies and lower the cost of food imports.

According to the latest predictions of FAO the rising food prices and shortages could cause instability in many countries as the cost of staple foods and vegetables reached their highest levels in two years, with scientists predicting further widespread droughts and floods.

Sri Lanka: Meeting the challenge

If not ourselves get prepared to face the challenge of current flood prone devastations in the country from the perspective of ensuring livelihood and food security, rapidly and systematically, we may have to face serious economic, social and political repercussions. It is a fact that due to the statesmanship of the President, Sri Lanka has launched a massive campaign since 2005 to increase the agricultural production and making Sri Lanka self-sufficient in food.

As a result Sri Lanka’s economy was not adversely affected and was very much resilient to the global financial and food crisis during 2007-2010 period, despite mobilizing heavy financial investments for the full scale humanitarian operation to liberate the country from the clutches of the LTTE terrorism.

The pro-poor and pro-farmer and producer agricultural policies as well as the measures adopted to ensure food security by the Government of Sri Lanka has given dividends to safeguard the country during the above global crisis.

However, the scenario is different at present; the very basis of our own agricultural production, including most of the brand new physical infrastructure built during the post-conflict period under the patronage of Northern and Eastern Revival Programs have been devastated by the recent floods. This would not only bring huge setback to the day to day life in these areas, but also invariably lead to a massive crop failure in this season.

Substantial amount of time and resources will be necessary for their rehabilitation and reconstruction, particularly the irrigation, water supply and electricity infrastructure, and the other essential services.

At this scenario, the need of the hour is to get a comprehensive damage assessment to prioritize the strategies and actions to ensure livelihood and the food security of the people, while continuing to address the felt needs of the displaced and the affected people of all areas of Sri Lanka by the floods and landslides in January and February 2011.

Therefore, it is essential that the authorities carry-out a rapid appraisal of the situation to enable the Government to identify a phased-out resettlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction program to effectively mobilize funds.

Rapid appraisal

In the light of the above, it is of vital importance to make a quick assessment to determine the quantitative impact of the above disaster to identify priorities of the resettlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction needs on the one hand and to ensure normalcy of livelihoods and the food security of the people on the other.

Hence a rapid appraisal that aims at providing information in a timely and cost-effective way is a must now.

The main objective of such a rapid appraisal is to quantify the impact of January 2011 and February heavy rainfalls associated floods, landslides and low temperatures on the livelihoods, food security, water and sanitation, agriculture and infrastructure of the affected areas in a fast and succinct way.

Such a rapid appraisal will provide a quick insight into the issues of the affected areas and the priorities for action and change. This will also be used to examine specific topics such as destruction to the tanks, reservoirs, houses and services as well as damage to the crops.

The Rapid Appraisal, if undertaken, can be done by using a methodology of calling information from the ‘Key Informant Officials’ (Divisional Secretaries and other officials of the relevant institutions) by administering a simple questioner and information sheets to obtain the first hand fast-track information. The following key principles are recommended for such a Rapid Appraisal:

l Optimal Ignorance - knowing what facts are not worth knowing, and

l Appropriate Imprecision - knowing that precise data are often unnecessary, and in the case of Flood based destruction all necessary information may be impossible to obtain.

The following are some Examples of the way these principles can be applied in this intend fast- track rapid assessment of impact of the disaster.

l Use key ‘Key Informant Officials’ who are selected for their specialized knowledge and experience of the specific subject or type of damage under consideration. Front Line GOSL officials such as GAs, DSDs and Grama Niladharies and Irrigation and Road Engineers, Health Officials including RDA and Paddy Marketing Board Officials, NHDA District Managers and Agricultural Extension Officers are examples of such resourcefull persons.

l Avoid strict sampling and survey procedures, and statistical niceties. Usually, rough averages, thumb rule calculations or ‘typical’ examples can be used.

Steps to be followed:

1. Firstly the key informants who will have a good overall knowledge and understanding of the affected areas (GA, DSD, Heads of other Service Institutions of the affected areas) be called for a High level short-workshop cum working session to explain the objective and the methodology of the rapid appraisal.

Their opinions are also sought and they are asked to identify further information on the relevant subject areas.

2. Secondly, the ‘Key Informant Officials’ will sent the expected data and information within few days to the main point of operation; ex. the focal point organization that execute the Rapid Appraisal.

3. Thirdly, a one day final validation Workshop could be conducted as soon as the information and data are being processed. This would provide an opportunity to get feedback on findings, identify any remaining gaps and to decide the Way Forward for implementation of new projects and regularization or re-tracking of ongoing projects, as per a funding plan approved by the government.

Implementation process

Six major components could be considered for quantifying the impact of the devastation in agricultural and allied sectors, including:

* Understanding the severity of the Floods and the Landslides,

* Damage to Houses including identification of relocation needs,

* Damage to Agriculture (Paddy, Other Croplands, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries sectors) Lands and Harvest and Output.

* Assessment on Food Security Status,

* Damage Assessment on Physical Infrastructure, and

* Damage Assessment on Social Infrastructure.

Feedback form

A special Feedback Form which is self explanatory has to be prepared for this purpose. It has to be filled by the DSDs in consultation with the relevant officials of the area and be sent back through GA and District Secretaries to the Focal Point Agency that is mainly responsible for the Rapid Appraisal, within few days from the receipt of it.

Final output

The final report with recommendations for implementation can be compiled on the basis of information and feedbacks received from the Divisional Secretaries. This exercise will be a model for conducting a rapid appraisal in similar situations in the future.

Therefore, an exercise of this nature will invariably fill a lacuna that existing in the country in the methodology of asserting disaster impact assessments.