Divi Neguma, new template

Divi Neguma - Part 11:

Divineguma National Programme Director Jayatilleke Herath interviewed by the Daily News

The mission of Divi Neguma National Programme is establishing 2.5 million household economic units covering all of the villages in Sri Lanka including sectors like home gardens, animal husbandry and cottage industries, Divi Neguma National Programme Director Jatilleke Herath said.

During an interview with the Daily News he said that there are four specific objectives in the Divi Neguma National Programme. The first objective is improving the nutrition level of the family. The nutrition level of the family improves when fresh vegetables added to the daily meals. Under this objective it is expected to make the people accustomed to daily consumption of nutritious animal produce such as milk and eggs. Vegetable and fruit production are produced with fertiliser free of chemicals produced in the home gardens. This also helps to improve the nutrition level of the family because Non Communicable Diseases, such as, cancer, kidney diseases etc can be minimized by avoiding various chemicals going into the body through fruits and vegetables.

It is also expected to educate and train people on healthy practices and nutritious values of food. This never happened during previous poverty alleviation programmes which only focused on social welfare.

Herath pointed out that the second specific objective of Divi Neguma National Programme is reducing the Cost of Living (COL) of the family. It is hoped to include produce from home gardens and surrounding areas in the daily family diet. Family members do not need to go to the market to purchase their daily needs as this system will help solve the food requirements.

The number of food items that will have to be purchased from the market will greatly be reduced. Reducing the cost of production by using family labour and making the best use of natural resources in one's neighbourhood will be a great to every family unit as it would help reduce the COL while promoting a healthy lifestyle with adequate daily exercise. It is expected to retain the money outflow to the markets within the household for vegetables, fruit and animal products.

Village products

According to Herath, a market will be created for village products within the village. It was very sad to see dairy farmers sell their fresh milk to private companies and buy a packet of milk powder from the shop on their way back home. This is purely because of their wrong attitude and way of living. It was not so in the past. The milk man rang the bell at very door step early in the morning with a bottle of fresh milk. Today we, adults are fortunate not to fall sick often because of the fresh glass of milk we had as children.

Explaining the third specific objective of Divi Neguma National Programme, he said that it is expected to introduce and train family units on food preservation methods. Wastage of food and money can be prevented through this method. Crop diversification in the home garden will also be done under the same objective.

The fourth specific objective of Divi Neguma National Programme is sending the excess production of the household economic unit to the market. A good family income can be earned through this method. It is also expected to maximize the profit by value addition. Creating of village level entrepreneurs based on the productions of the village will also be done at the same time under this fourth objective. Local businesses can be promoted through this system while ensuring the health and wealth of villagers.

Stressing the methodical system of implementation methodology at ground level, Herath pointed out that at least 150 household economic units will be selected from each GN Division. Advice will be given on planning the household economic unit. Provisions of necessary inputs will be there to selected households. Provision of technical advice, guidelines and market facilities will be made available to selected household owners. Assistance will be obtained from the volunteer organizations and government programmes functioning in the villages.

The Grama Niladhari, Samurdhi Development Officer, Agriculture Research and Production Assistant and the Family Health Service Officer will handle the ground level implementation of the programme of improving the household economy.

Explaining the duties of the ground level officers, Herath said they will handle the identification of beneficiary families at GN Division level. They will also provide required inputs to the selected families. They will conduct close monitoring on allocated household economic units. The officers will evaluate the progress and also report and advice on problems of activities in the household economic units. The officers will coordinate with government and the other institutions relevant to the Divi Neguma programme. Operational methodology will be from the National level to regional level. There will be a National Operations Unit, District Operations Unit and the Divisional Operations Unit. Other sub programmes of the Divi Neguma National Programme are establishment of commercial unit up to 2.5 acres of land around the home garden, establishment of Divi Neguma enterprise village with the involvement of 200 families, livestock farm, storage facilities,organic processing, small rice mill, food process centre, Divi Neguma bank and promotion of home based industries in selected villages, implementation of Divi Neguma enterprise credit scheme.

Infrastructure facilities

Divi Neguma continues with the other programmes, such as, Gama Neguma and Maga Neguma. We build Maternity clinics under Gama Neguma. We provide all basic requirements. Through this we expect to develop infrastructure facilities. All other programmes continue in parallel to these programmes. When the per capita income reaches 4,000 USD, it should stand to benefit the people the most. Otherwise, it becomes meaningless.

We need to become a middle income country which has to be reflected in the people's lives. President Rajapaksa's vision is, building the person, his family, the village, the country and win the world. Divi Neguma is relevant to building the person, the family and the village and the country. Other programmes are connected with developing the country. We have deployed graduates to implement the Divi Neguma programme and they will make remarkable progress, he said. Divi Neguma is not only a poverty alleviation programme. It builds personality and changes people's attitudes. Any criticism about Divi Neguma should be constructive. Criticism aimed at achieving political mileage will not help Divi Neguma.

Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa's leadership is very significant because he not only gives the leadership for Divi Neguma National Programme. He monitors its progress very closely and attends all meetings. His duty does not end there. He does follow ups after all meetings. He has been involved with this programme from the inception. All Ministers are working tirelessly for the greater success of this programme. State officials are very proud of this programme as it has given them great pride and joy as they have been able to serve their country and its people. They have honour and dignity now. When they retire, they can be proud of their service because of their contribution towards the success and prosperity that the Divi Neguma programme has brought to their Motherland.

Under Divi Neguma, the people do not need to visit public servants. Public servants visit their door steps. If there are any shortcomings in Divi Neguma, it is the bounden duty of all patriotic Lankans to help improve this programme and take it to new heights.