Sri Lanka mulls Food Security Bill
The draft Indian Food Security Bill could provide valuable inputs to
a similar Sri Lankan initiative, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said. The
Indian Bill is designed to ensure that every citizen has a legal right
to food.
M S Swaminathan |
President Rajapaksa made the remark at a meeting with Indian
agricultural scientist and Member of Parliament M S Swaminathan.
Professor Swaminathan, who has visited Sri Lanka several times since
the 1970s to share his expertise in agriculture, observed that rice
production in the island had shown a remarkable increase in recent
years, largely due to supply of fertilizers to farmers at subsidised
prices.
This year, Sri Lanka would export rice, he was informed at the
meeting at Temple Trees.
Steps to sustain and expand the rice “revolution” were discussed at
the meeting.
The additional measures suggested included providing nutrient-based
subsidy to promote balanced fertilization, introducing mobile soil
health monitoring vans that can issue soil health passbooks to farmers
and appropriate high-yielding hybrid rice strains, coupled with
sustainable rice intensification agronomic procedures.
Steps will have to be taken to increase the yield per unit of land
and water on an environmentally sustainable basis, it was felt.
Improving productivity with respect to other crops, enhancing the catch
for fishermen using modern technology and introducing mitigation
measures in the context of climate change also came up for discussion.
Anticipatory action was required to meet the challenge of rising sea
level. The December 26, 2004 tsunami was a wake-up call, it was noted.
The meeting recognised that climate refugees will move from coastal
to inland areas.
Professor Swaminathan suggested that Sri Lanka’s Sea Level Rise
Management Strategy might include the following components: updating the
coastal vulnerability map prepared about 10 years ago, raising mangrove
and non-mangrove bioshields, introducing and cultivating salinity
tolerant rice varieties and establishing a genetic garden of halphytes
(seawater-tolerant plants) to promote agri-aqua farms along the coast.
It was decided to establish a International Research Centre at Jaffna
to convert the scientific findings into field-level applications.
Such a centre will help to bridge the gap between scientific know-how
and field level do-how. External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris,
Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, Fisheries Minister
Rajitha Senaratne, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena,
Foreign Secretary K. Amunugama and Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka
Ashok K Kantha attended the meeting.
Courtesy: The Hindu
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