Grow more food by statute.
Posted on December 18th, 2022
Sugath Kulatunga
A few days back the President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that new laws are expected to be introduced in the future to ensure food security. The President also emphasized the need to obtain accurate data in establishing food security and the nutritional status of the people and stressed that there have been disparities in the data available at the national level and at the regional level which should be rectified immediately. This is crucial as the past experience with lack of precise information had led to wrong decisions and political fiasco. Gentleman Dudley Senanayake who led a previous grow more food campaign earned the sobriquet as Pacha Bahu due to cooked up information fed to him by the bureaucracy. It would be useful if an operations center is established in the office of the President to monitor, evaluate and direct the national campaign.
In the month of May this year the President when he was the Prime Minister predicted a famine in August and proposed an urgent food production drive. The country survived August without a famine. Although six months have passed since the PM’s exhortation to launch a food production drive, food has become scarce, and prices have escalated which means the planned food drive has not accomplished its objectives.
The government has intervened through the Sathosa to manage prices, but the supply has not improved appreciably. Case in point of the abject failure of the present drive is the scarcity and high prices in eggs and chicken. It is a sad situation when egg prices have to be determined before courts. Now the President seems to have shifted from growing food on the ground to grow food by statute.
In the month of May this writer pointed out that there were many such drives previously which fizzled out quickly. This time it has not even started fully. There will be real hunger and it will not be possible to import food stuff from abroad as the food shortage is global. It is imperative to contend with both production of food and making the food available to the consumer at an affordable price.
We have over 20 distinct agroclimatic zones with their distinctive advantages. Of course, the farmers are quite knowledgeable about them. But for optimal results a holistic view pf the problem is imperative. This should take into account not only the production of vegetables and fruits but also animal husbandry and fisheries.
The urgency for addressing the whole basket of food has arisen with the detection of malnutrition in children. It has been disclosed that due to the high price of meat and eggs and non-availability of fish even at a high price, the problem has aggravated.
The large-scale battery type poultry industry has suffered due to short supply of poultry food, especially maize and soya. In deep litter type small scale household poultry, the producers depend more on kitchen refuse as feed. Where it is possible the birds can be allowed free range feeding as well. A ten-by-ten deep litter coop can house 10 hens producing an average of 7 eggs a day for household use and sale to generate some extra income. Deep litter compost is also an excellent fertilizer. Just as done in the groundbreaking campaign in 1960, the government must organize a well-coordinated effort to provide model projects, arrange with Banks for financing, expand incubator capacity, increase the issue of day-old chicks and offer an efficient veterinary service to overcome the shortage of eggs and poultry meat.
Fish has become scarce and expensive and with the fuel shortage it will become worse. Sri Lanka is blessed with numerous inland water bodies where inland fisheries can be developed. Inland fisheries do not require expensive boats and fuel and are located spread throughout the Island. It is reported that the extent of inland waters in major rivers is 375 thousand hectares and the area covered by man-made water bodies exceeds 170,000 ha. in about 10,000 tanks. All these water bodies can be used for inland fisheries. Some of these in isolated locations can be leased out to the private sector.
In fact, the good work done by the Fisheries Dept to establish fingerling nurseries was cut short by a typical fiat of PM Premadasa. But now the scheme has been revived and freshwater fish like Tilapia has become popular. One wonders why catfish which is so abundant in countries like Vietnam and Thailand and is the most consumed freshwater fish in USA is not cultivated in Sri Lanka. Catfish is a hardy fast breeding fish which can survive when water bodies dry up could be bred in mud ponds and tanks to supplement protein needs. It is a hardy fish which can survive drought conditions and is a fast breeder. ” Catfish is the king” of U.S. aquaculture in terms of pounds produced and total value. The fish is raised in earthen ponds filled with well water and fed a floating, grain-based diet. Farmers receive an average price of $0.861 per pound (386.72 Sri Lankan Rupees). If properly managed, catfish should be ready for table after six months.. If they are well fed, they should reach an average of 1kg within the 6months.” In US, Annual harvests in ponds ranged from 4,000 to 7,000 lb per acre.
Vietnam exports around 2 billion dollars’ worth catfish mainly to USA.
A high protein vegetable that should be promoted is Murunga. Here again it is not known whether there is extensive cultivation of the very productive, short duration hybrid varieties in Sri Lanka. Murunga pods have a high protein content, and the leaves have the highest protein content out of herbs. Hybrid murunga can be harvested after 160 to 170 days after planting and on average, each tree bears 200-225 fruits/year. Pods are 65 to 70 cm long with 6.3 cm girth and 150 g weight. A hybrid varieties can be grown even in pots. Hybrid seeds can be imported from South India.
Food scarcities are already there and will become acute within the next few months. Planting long duration crops will not help to relieve the short-term problem. For instance, Manioc is a12 months crop. If the Dept of Agriculture has not developed short term varieties, it would be useful to be in touch with the International Cassava Center in Nigeria and obtain seeds of recently improved short term varieties.
The Department should also encourage people to cultivate yams. Sri Lanka has so many varieties of yam, but we should also consider introducing the varieties of yams popular in sub–Saharan Africa which also have an export market.
Another product which can be propagated overnight is straw mushroom which can be grown in the field by farmers.
Another food item not made popular in Sri Lanka is the hardy cereal sorghum which is a substitute for maize and is the staple food of 500 million people in 30 countries. It is drought resistant and grow on all types of soil conditions. Sorghum has better nutritional value than rice or maize and is richer in protein, minerals, and vitamins. Sorghum would improve the mix of cereals and enhance food security.
There are 24 agro-ecological regions in the country which represent combination of particular characteristics of climate, relief and soil and farming systems (C.R.Panabokke). This advantage should be made use of to get optimal results. There has to be ground level planning to prevent gluts in the market. Media should give more space for dissemination of information on agriculture. It will be useful to make home gardening a compulsory subject in Schools and promote school gardens. It is also useful to introduce new crops which are popular in other tropical countries. To add value and to absorb surplus production during periods of gluts processing facilities must be installed.
There is copious lip service given to food security and self-sufficiency in rice. Our self-sufficiency in food is dependent on the increasing import of wheat flour. The free supply of wheat flour/grain under PL 480 changed our food habits and made us addicted to wheat flour products. The problem has got aggravated with the entry of the Prima project where we provide them with the grain which is milled by them and sold to us minus the nutritious wheat germ. Prima investment was perhaps the best investment in Sri Lanka by Singapore on a BOT basis for twenty years. It was to be transferred back to Sri Lanka during the time of CBK. But CBK sold it back to Singapore for a paltry sum making Prima a dominant duopoly in the supply of wheat flour in Sri Lanka. Food security in Sri Lanka of staple cereals is based not only on rice but also on wheat flour which contributes over 40 percent of the food requirement. That is now in the hands of Prima.
In other countries, there are financial awards at the District level to reward the best gardens and farmers. In Thailand, there is a special farmers’ radio service. We can learn from the integrated farming system popular in Thailand where mutually supporting farming of cereals, livestock, poultry and fish and fruit trees is practiced in a limited area. We also had the same mix in the old villages other than in cereals and fishponds.
Scarcities during off season and gluts during good season is a common feature particularly in vegetable like tomatoes and fruits like papaya. It is necessary to increase canning capacities to meet excess production. This will also stabilize prices.
There are at least 15 field officers attached to each Divisional Secretariat. This personnel and Samurdi officers should now be mobilized along with Agricultural staff to launch a comprehensive Food Production Drive involving every household and giving them advise on what could be grown and providing seeds etc.
The journey from the farmgate to the consumer is convoluted and inefficient.
In the past there were two important links between the producer and consumer in the Department of Marketing and the Paddy Marketing Board. In the scurry of the post 77 to cut back state activities the Marketing Department was privatized, and the PMB was scaled down and the chain of paddy stores were handed over to private parties. Well-equipped rice mills of the PMB were abandoned. The result is vegetable and fruit farmers are at the mercy of private sector buyers and in the case of paddy they are exploited by private sector millers. The mafia of large millers today dictate the buying and selling price of rice.
It has been estimated that the post-harvest loss in fruits and vegetables is over 40 percent which is due mainly to faulty packaging and transport. It is not an uncommon sight to see workmen seated on jute sacks of vegetable transported in lorries. As the transport cost is based on the number of bags they are packed tightly. Some time back, the government made an attempt to encourage farmers and middlemen to use nestable crates but it was abandoned due to lack of interest. One problem in this system is the cost of transporting the empties back to the production areas. This can be eased if the Railway system is used as a collection, packing, and warehousing facility. They have the land and cheap transport. The empties can be transported back in open wagons to the collection centers.
Sri Lanka Railway is vastly underutilized. The track and the stations are hardly used during the night. Railway has plenty of land located centrally but unused.
Railway land, in the centers of production of fruits and vegetables could be used with as collection and packing centers of fruits and vegetables. Thereafter the products could be transported in nestable crates to wholesale distribution centers in consumption areas in wagons with cooling facility. Railway also has the advantage of transporting back the empty crates. It is suggested that the Railway learn from the Assam Rail which uses Reefer wagons to transport perishable products all the way to Calcutta from Assam. GMR is perhaps the biggest landowner of developed land in the country. All that idle land from Dematagoda to Fort could be used for a central wholesale center. It will be a profitable venture for the Railway.
A strategy that has tremendous potential to increase the production of vegetables and fruits is home gardening. It has been promoted in fits and starts but not on a continuous and comprehensive scale. One does need a vast space of land to grow a few papaya trees or a few chili and brinjal plants which can be grown in pots. A papaya tree does not need more than 4 sq meters of space. Of course, it is not dramatic as exhibiting the exorbitant price of a single chili in Parliament. There is no efficient system for the supply of seeds and provide instructions. The present government had a program for the distribution of quality seeds, but it has fizzled out. The well-run seed farms of the Dept. of Agriculture were privatized. Maha Illuppalama Research Station produced many new varieties of seed and crops including a substitute for masoor dhal. We should not only be self-sufficient in seed production but export them. India has a comprehensive network on seed production which we should tap for material and information. It is not understood how we import potatoes from India but do not import Seed potatoes from them, which would be cheaper. There is a seed import mafia which control seed imports which should be dismantled. It is also essential to propagate home preservation techniques of food items among housewives. In the olden days villagers preserved food by sun drying and smoking and pickling. We could introduce large scale pickling of vegetables like the cabbage pickle kimchi of Korea .
The Department of Agriculture has not shown much initiative on research on crops other than on rice where they have done well. Their performance in horticulture has been dismal. Most improved fruit varieties now in Sri Lanka like Rambutan and Guava have been smuggled from Thailand by private enthusiasts. A new variety of Mango and cavendish type of bananas have been introduced by the private sector. While our authorities have been inactive, I have seen karatha colomban mango in Thailand. The Department of Agriculture could not propagate mushrooms cultivation for the last 60 years while EDB was able to commercialize mushroom in bags within 3 years and is fast spreading now.
There is a strong potential to expand greenhouses systems in urban areas for production of fresh vegetables. Unused low-lying land around urban areas could be leased out to supermarket chains to produce their own supplies.
(It is encouraging to see the recent launch of the World Bank funded Agriculture Modernization Project for Value Chain Development and Productivity Enhancement and Diversification) It should have been the bread-and-butter operation of the
Department since Independence.
Growing more food has multiple benefits. It increases the food supply, reduces malnutrition, and provides productive employment. In addition, it also reduces imports and saves foreign exchange. Home gardening is also an excellent hobby.
If we are to avoid the predicted apocalypse, what we should focus on is innovation, systems improvement, incentives, and application. A legalistic approach is not an adequate solution.
It will be useful for authorities to look at the Agriculture Plan 1958 of Minister Philip Gunawardhana.