Courtesy Hiru News

COPA proposes to set up a new Cabinet Sub Committee for Food Security to address the country’s food crisis

The requirement for rice to be imported in the future is 800,000 metric tons

Discussions to obtain support from SAARC Food Bank and the World Food Program

The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) recommended that all Ministries should unite and set up a Cabinet Sub-Committee on Food Security to address the food crisis in the country. The members of the committee pointed out that it is important to set up this committee to bring all the agencies responsible for tackling the current food crisis together, to take quick decisions, to follow up on the actions to be taken and to discuss future actions.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the COPA Committee chaired by (Prof) Tissa Vitharana, Member of Parliament recently (10).

Discussions were also focused on obtaining the support of SAARC Food Bank and the World Food Program (WFP) for Sri Lanka in overcoming the food crisis.

The Chairman of the COPA Committee elaborated on the unaffordable increase in the prices of essential food items due to the Government's deregulation of food prices in the country.

The Chairman of the COPA Committee also directed to look into the possibility of supplying food items at reasonable prices with the intervention of the government as the food items available in the market are expensive. Accordingly, the possibility of catering to low-income families through the ;Food Commissioner’s Department, Lanka Sathosa, State Trading Corporation (STC) and Multi- purpose Cooperative Societies was also discussed.

The Auditor General pointed out that food production has been severely hampered by climate ;change, the war in Russia and Ukraine, the crisis in world wheat, maize and fertilizer production and rising oil prices. In the local context, the production of essential food items has declined due to the recent fertilizer crisis in Sri Lanka, the shortage of foreign exchange reserves and the emergence of a policy crisis regarding the use of pesticides.

According to data from the Sri Lanka Customs and Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute, the Ministry of Commerce has identified sixteen types of food as essential food items. They are Samba rice, Nadu rice, raw rice, sugar, red lentils, wheat flour, big onions, potatoes and canned fish, milk powder, dried sprats, dried chilies, chickpeas, chicken, fish and eggs.