By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Director at Center for Global Poverty Alleviation

Where would be without the Army?  Have we forgotten what the Army did to rid the country of the LTTE terrorism.

Perhaps the Army could be given the task of economic development, like in the USA where the US Army attends to many tasks like building hydro electricity schemes and even keeps the city of New Orleans alive saving it from the Atlantic Ocean waters as the city is below sea level.

My paper on Laya Waves may be kindly considered by the Army. It is a plan to get the Army to work on economic development.

Laya Waves: A Cosy Holiday for now: A Catalyst for Future Development

• Published on October 29, 2020 in Lanka Web

Laya Waves: A Cosy Holiday for now: A Catalyst for Future Development

On my second visit to Laya Waves I was struck with some new ideas. 

To get down to the hospitality track, the sleuths who have forgotten their guns for now and are on an entirely different – hospitality track; they are a marvel. The accommodation was spick and span., cleanliness perfect,  the front desk manned by Dilruksha and Chandima courteous and very helpful, even attending to my car for a small defect, and last but most important of all,  the chef, Nishanta Perera, a great chef, with a hand that makes every meal tasty- mouth watering in the extreme. At the end of a meal we wait for the next to see what he offers and he was always up to the mark. It is very rare to find a chef of that ability.

In my working  life in Sri Lanka,  the Administrative Service has taken me to work in  eight districts and my covering the whole island for agricultural loans, fertilizer distribution  and paddy cultivation work  for some five years. I am thus aware of what is where. These range from the Guava belt in Belihul Oya-Balangoda, the Ranbutan belt in Dompe, the Mangosteen belt in Kalutara,  the Coffee belt in Kitulgala, the Pepper belt in Wellawaya, the Tomatoe belt in Hanguranketa, the Flower and Vegetable Belt in Nuwara Eliya- Bandarawela,  where flowers grow wild and I bagged more than my  salary from flowers and vegetables in my years’ stay at Nuwara Eliya, the Avocado belt from Galaha to Peradeniya, and the Dry Zone Areas-Padaviya to Anuradhapura and Moneragala to Tissamaharamsa, where in any one season November to February all the fruit needed to make Sri Lanka self sufficient in all fruit and juice can be produced. I know of the  Cardamom- Spices belt in Kotmale- sadly denuded today by the Kotmale Dam.

It is a sad fact that these resources are not put to full use, though Mother , Nature has provided all bountifully. The produce goes to waste and the people remain within the bound of poverty.  In the Fifties and Sixties we made progress but the rot set in,  in 1977 with President Jayawardena  accepting the International Monetary Fund’s Structural Adjustment Programme with open arms. That was our undoing. We  had to abolish and abandon the development infrastructure that our leaders had painstakingly developed- the Cannery and the Veg and Fruit Marketing Scheme, of the Marketing Department and to this day we have failed to bring back that development infrastructure to enable development to commence once again.

On this Visit  to Laya Waves what struck me was the two large plots where aloevira grows wild. I have never seen that wild growth  anywhere else. I inquired and the sleuths who now maintain the garden told me that the trick was perhaps the salty water and the climate.

My craze for travel has taken me  to Lanzarote, an island in the Mediterranean, where some  uncultivable land on rugged sedimentary rock is being developed and aloe vira is grown on a large scale with a factory producing a full range of aloevira products sold everywhere in the Harrods and Selfridges of Europe and USA, 

My find of aloevira  thriving at Laya Waves tells ,me of a great possibility in development. Its potential if tackled prudently can easily earn billions of dollars, annually to our depleted coffers,  a task, if done at the pace I worked as the G.A. at Matara in 1971-1973, can easily be accomplished within two years. Working singlehandedly in Bangladesh, I designed and established the Youth Self Employment Programme and trained the Bangladeshi officialdom to continue it after my two year assignment was over- and the result- a programme that has guided three million youths to become employed, all accomplished within nineteen months. The task of developing aloevira will be a far easier task.

The task to develop aloevira in Pasikuda can easily be accomplished within two years at most. This estimate of time is not out of the hat but a calculation based on sheer experience in similar exploits. My working life has been full of such exploits. So that estimate of timing can be held firm.. The best method of indicating that this task can be accomplished is to hark back to a similar or more daunting task accomplished by me  earlier.. I enclose details of a similar task- establishing Coop Crayon  in the Appendix.

Accessing Aloevira products at Orzola, Lanzarote, I find the following products:. Gel, Oil, Drink, Cream, Moisturising Cream, Anti Aging Cream, Face Cream, Foot Cream, Night Cream, Dog Shampoo, Shampoo, Hand Cream, Relax Gel, Bath Gel.

Conducting experiments to make Aloevira products will be far easier than  finding the art of making crayons and establishing the Crayon Factory. .

It is suggested that  the Sri Lanka Army may kindly initiate action to conduct experiments at making products with Aloevira.  Nishantha Perera the chef at Laya Waves could provide the leadership for the experiments at the initial stage. Further the science lab at a College or University has to be commandeered.  An alternative will be to get the Army to put up a tent and get going in Laya Waves itself and to buy essential equipment.

It would be ideal to have some officer from the army who has a background qualification in agriculture, chemistry  or biology to be in charge.

This Project has to be  handled by a person of standing like a Brigadier as there has to be contact with many high ranking officials in government institutions, the Ministry of Industries,  Food Technology Institutes, Department of Education , Ministries etc and the person appointed at the initial stage must be a tough guy who can shake up matters when Government Departments are lethargic.  After a few years when the industry is well on keel, the high ranking officer can be removed and an officer like a Lt Colonel or Major could handle the project.   

May I also suggest that the land of the Army  Bungalow next to Laya Wave be used to cultivate Aloevira, The land has to be prepared immediately if the planting is to be done with the November rains.

An idea may be for an officer from the agriculture and land cultivation section  of the Army to be consulted , specially to find whether any crown land suitable for the  cultivation of Aloevira is available in the vicinity. If land is available the Army can open a farm. Simultaneously the army can have seed farms, distribute to private farmers and collect the crop.

I am aware that there is a section of the Army that attends to agriculture and is actively involved in producing food crops. A Unit of that section can be put on the task of producing Aloevira at Pasikuda. Full details have to be worked out and I am dead certain  of success not only in production but in developing foreign sales which will bring in an income in foreign exchange.

It may be interesting to note that in the USA the Army is used for many development projects. At New Orleans, a city below the sea level,  levees(bunds) are constructed and maintained by the Army. On the Columbia River there are stupendous hyrdo projects constructed and manned by the Army. The US Army is deployed in many ways for civilian functions. In my travels in the USA-I owned a Motorhome and have clocked 50,000 miles crossing the USA thrice and have seen for myself the stupendous civilian work being done by the US Army all over the USA.. It is my opinion that the  Sri Lankan Army can and has to play a major role in bringing about economic development.

I am dead certain of success. The success does not depend on the ability to grow Aloevira. I am aware that planting Aloevira is in progress at Wilpattu. However that is at an infancy stage and there is ample scope for a few industries to be established in Aloevira.

Success  will depend on the leader chosen, who has to have a personality;  foreign sales will depend on the charm of the officer selected. Both must be of the type that can, as the saying goes- take  fire under water. ,

I wish to be associated with any initiatives and can assure success.

Garvin Karunaratne, B.A, & M.A.( Peradeniya), M.Ed.(Manchester)

, M.Phil (Edinburgh) & Ph.D. (Michigan State University)

Former SLAS, G.A.Matara.(1971-1973)

Commonwealth Fund Advisor to the Ministry of Labour & Manpower in Bangladesh, 1982-1983, who designed, directed  and established the Youth Self Employment Programme in Bangladesh, the premier employment creation programme the world has known, a programme that has left its imprint on the sands of time.

Author of

How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka & Alternative Programmes of Success.(Godages) 2006

How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development(Godages/Kindle,2017) Garvin Karunaratne, former GA Matara, Ph.D Michigan State University.