By Garvin Karunaratne former SLAS

Can we stop imports and save dollars? Yes, We CAN. Let us talk about what we once did.

In 1965, when I worked in Nuwara Eliya, a car loan of tomatoes purchased at Hanguranketa made my home a Cannery for a weekend, and we made tomato sauce that lasted six months.

In 1956, during my tenure as the manager of the Tripoli Market, which ran the Vegetable and Fruit Purchasing Programme of the Marketing Department, the Marketing Officer at Hanguranketa Fair reported a glut of tomatoes. I dispatched three lorries to Hanguranketa Fair to purchase all the tomatoes, and they arrived at the Cannery by midnight. It all became tomato sauce. Today we spend dollars obtained on loan to buy Tomatoes Sauce from as far as the USA and Australia. Are we not foolish?

Then Assistant Commissioner Ossie Tillekeratne often went to Europe to find sales.

In my days as the GA at Matara in 1971, my Planning Officer, Vetus Fernando, a raw chemistry grad, toiled every day from six to twelve midnight for three months, locked in the Matara Rahula College science lab, aided by Science teachers at Rahula, with all of us as Cheer Leaders goading Vetus when he failed. Somehow, he found the art of making Crayons.

Then Sumanapala Dahanayake, the MP for Deniyaya, as the President of Morawaka Cooperatives, organised producing crayons- day and night and in a fortnight we filled two large rooms. I rested for three days, and my officers supervised for two weeks- a 24-hour-a-day operation. That was also Sumanapala, the MP for Deniyaya; perhaps his role is to be admired by the Members of Parliament of today. Minister Subasinghe, the Minister for Industries, opened sales. Minister Illangaratne, when he saw the crayons we made, ordered the stop of all imports of crayons. He even got me to agree to open a Crayon Factory at Kolonnawa, his electorate!

Then Morawaka Youth made Coop Crayon was as good as the Crayola, the best of the day today. Are we not the fools to close Coop Crayon? Of course we had to do it as the IMF ordered. But we can get down to make all our crayons again. That was my staff- Planning Officer Vetus Fernando and Development Assistant Daya Palihakkara in action. Both of them are yet alive.

The Marketing Department Cannery was established in 1955. From 1956 we purchased all the Red Pumpkin and made it into Golden Melon Jam; we purchased all the Ash Pumpkin and made it into Silver Melon Jam. Professor Sarathchandra’s cherished drink was Tomatoe Juice and many a day we enjoyed drinking MD tomatoe sauce at the University canteen in the University at Peradeniya. . We exported eight percent of our canned pineapple.. I was Assistant Commissioner in charge of Tripoli Market in 1956 and covered the duties of Assistant Commissioner Oswald Tliiekeratne, to supervise the cannery when he was abroad to find sales for our canned pineapple. Today we import Jam and Fruit Drinks.

A few years ago I ran into a distant relative, a lad trained in fruit processing who was a clerical officer in a Ministry.

Now we import jam and juice from Australia, from Cyprus and from everywhere!

Making Jam, Fruit Juice is something that can be done overnight with fruit that is in plenty. Are we not the Fools to import instead of Canning and making Fruit Drinks and Jam?.

The Marketing Department produced all our Jam and Fruit Juice within three years 1955-1958- the Philip Gunawardena days. He gave us the nod and we moved ahead.

The Divisional Development Councils Programme(DDCP) of the Sirimavo days(1970-1977) was the last production programme our country had.

In Matara as the GA, I obtained approval to establish a Boat Making factory and our youth made seagoing motorboats- forty boats a year. The IMF stopped the Boatyard in 1978. Are we not the fools. Yet we import fish, though our seas are full of shoals of fish and our sea worn youth look on at the waves of the Indian Ocean rolling with fish. .

Then in Matara I had around a dozen agricultural farms where we trained farmers and we produced vegetables- ginger etc. We had established many industries- batik making, farm implements, crafts etc.

There were 22 of us Government Agents in the island, producing in farms and industries all over. We trained 33,200 scientific farmers and industrialists. This was done under the direction of Professor HAdeS Gunasekera, the Professor of Econ at Peradeniya. He was appointed the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Plan Implementation and even a helicopter was placed at his disposal for district travel and we had to bend our heads when we met him at the helicopter to avoid being decapitated. Sorry he is not with us to tell the tale.

In NuwaraEliya, the Divisional . Secretary at Kotmale established a paper making factory. He collected the waste paper in the District and made paper and cardboard . That factory was also closed under IMF orders in 1978. Today we import paper. Paper is made out of straw and illuk, which we have in plenty.

Are we not the fools not to engage in Paper Making. Farmers even set fire to the straw to get rid of it.

We have acted the goat from 1977 . Instead of following the Kotmale Divisional Secretary, and making paper out of waste paper we export waste paper and cardboard to India- some 8000 tons per month and earn a few coppers and also buy paper and cardboard from India paying full dollars. Mind you we did that from 1978 to now and we do it even today. I am certain that we cannot find any country as foolish as our Sri Lanka.

In every District under the DDCP we got into production.

I can go on narrating endless. Now what I have said is the stark truth- Sri Lanka can produce all the imports other than wheat flour within months if only the Government approves it. The expenses of establishing training centres, farms and industries is all in local rupees. But when the production comes in- of Fruit Juice, Jam, Tomatoe Sauce and we can avoid imports we do really save dollars.

Our stalwarts who once led this DDCP programme of production are now enjoying fat pensions. Will it not be prudent to enlist their services immediately and get going in days and see to become productive instead of continuing to be importers of what we can produce. Though in my nineties I can become active for a short few months working with our youth- working for the future of my Motherland. That will be a pleasure to get some real development off the ground.

Over to our leaders- our President and Prime Minister. You owe to make our country productive , not to get our country into further foreign debt.

Garvin Karunaratne

former GA Matara 1971-1973

garvin_karunaratne@outlook.com