By Garvin Karunaratne former G.A. Matara
In view of the attempts by our President to
boost our agriculture, it may be worthwhile to ascertain what did happen to the
excellent agricultural extension service we had in the Sixties- the effort of
the combined Agriculture Department and Agrarian Services.
I enclose a chapter from my forthcoming
publication: NuwaraKalaviya which details what happened..
I was stunned to read a
news item stating that youths from schools in. Anuradhapura are very
likely to be the cannon fodder for renal disease. Students in grades
10 to 12 in the North Central Province are prone to contact renal diseases…earlier
it was people in the 30s and 40s.”(Daily Mirror (12/4)
My
mind lingered to the 25,000 farmers of the North Central Province who have
succumbed to the CDKu- the Kidney Disease. Some of them may have
been the young farmers with whom I worked in the 296 cultivation committees I
set up in 1962. Then there was a hive of activity- discussions and
arguments going on for hours at times till late at night-the thrust
of it was to use high yielding varieties and supplement with fertilizer. This
was accomplished.
Sad to
say, some two decades later certain administrative
changes that were made did decimate the very
effective agricultural extension system that we
had. . In addition with the abolition of the Paddy Lands Act in the
Eighties, the agrarian services with its overseers and the cultivation
committee, the peoples’ organization at the village level ceased to exist. In
around 1993, the trained agricultural overseers- the Krushikarma Vyapti Sewakas
at the village level who formed the king pin that guided fertilizer and weedicde
use at the village level were promoted as Grama Niladharis and till today no
extension overseer with any training has taken their place. The farmers have no
one to guide them. The closest trained officer is the Agricultural Instructor
at the divisional level who has any number from 5000 to 14000 farmers to
provide guidance.
To my
mind this lacuna in the agricultural extension system is the main cause for the
misuse of fertilizer and weedicides that has caused the kidney disease. We have
taken many steps, like providing clean water in barrels, establishing water
treatment plants, having kidney dialysis machines at hospitals but these do not
touch the core cause.
Guiding
famers to use the essential fertilizer, weedicides and pesticides is the key,
In paddy cultivation we have high yielding varieties that require a fertilizer
input. This matter cannot be settled until we have a trained
overseer at the village level and also build up a vibrant agricultural
extension system. Left to themselves without any technical input the farmers
misuse fertilizer, using the wrong fertilizer and unnecessarily large doses of
it. The massive subsidy given for fertilizer also helped the misuse
of fertilizer.
It is my opinion is that in
addition to all other factors that have been identified the excessive use of
fertilizer is a major cause.
The problem with the use
of fertilizer is that there are three varieties, phosphate, potash and
sulphate. Each fertilizer has to be used at different stages of the paddy plant
and can have negative results if misused. Further the effect of some
varieties like ammonium sulphate and urea is easily visible which make farmers
use this variety only and ignore the rest. Thus for best results a vibrant
extension service is essential.
Let me draw on my
experience as an administrative officer. I handled fertilizer distribution to
the entire island in 1962 in the Agrarian Services Department and was
instrumental in sending out the first island wide circular which detailed the
amount of fertilizer to be used, which fertilizer and at what stage. At that
time farmers used very little fertilizer and the green revolution was pursued
apace with the introduction of new varieties of paddy that had a high response
to inorganic fertilizer.
Later in 1962 to 1964, I
was implementing the Paddy Lands Act in the Anuradhapura District, establishing
cultivation committees and planning the use of fertilizer and high yielding
varieties. The farmers were very enthusiastic and there was great progress.
The use of fertilizer
proceeded apace and Sri Lanka almost reached self sufficiency whilst
implementing the rice ration scheme, issuing rice at reduced rates by
1970.
During these years of
expansion- I was working in Sri Lanka till 1973 and even for another decade
later there was no major problem about the negative use of fertilizer.
At that time there were
two major Departments that attended to agricultural extension. The long
standing department was the Department of Agriculture, which was well staffed
with qualified officers. At the District level there were District Agricultural
Extension Officers(DAEO) who were authorities in the use of fertilizer. Under
them in each District there were Agricultural Instructors at the Divisional
level. They had studied agriculture for two years. I have met them again and
again on my visits and I was always impressed with their knowledge. Each
Agricultural Instructor had a number of Krushikarma Vyapti Sevakas(KVSs)- Field
Assistants who were posted at the village level. These officers had an years’
training in paddy cultivation.
With the establishment
of the Agrarian Services Department in 1958, to implement the Paddy Lands Act a
boost was given to paddy cultivation by the establishment of cultivation
committees. Each District was headed by an Assistant Commissioner and under him
there were Divisional Officers who had around half a dozen
Field Assistants. The Field Assistants were trained in agriculture. This
staff guided the work of the cultivation committees and we got down to planning
the use of fertilizer at the village level. The KVSs of the Agricultural
Departments also worked with the cultivation committees. Peoples
participation was foremost in the working
of the cultivation committees and this combined strength of the Department of
Agriculture and Agrarian Services did create wonders in increasing paddy
production.
However this efficient extension service went through four
major changes from the Seventies.
Firstly the Agrarian
Services Department which was following the socialist concept of people’s
participation was given less and less prominence and ultimately the cultivation
committees were disbanded with the abolition of the Paddy Lands Act. Though the
Agrarian Services yet has petty offices at the divisional level, these offices
have hardly any tasks and their work today is a fraction of the work we did in
the Sixties. The Cultivation Officers and Yaya Representatives under the
Agrarian Services Act were ineffective.
The Department of
Agriculture which was the technical department with specialist officers had a
major shake up when President Premadasa decided to absorb all KVSs- some 2300
as Grama Niladharis.. Out went the qualified officers who were working at the
village level guiding the farmers. For a few years there was no agriculture
staff at the village level under the Agricultural Instructors, till President
Kumaranatunge created the Samurdhi Niyamakas-O Level qualified youths were
appointed and they knew no agriculture. Till today these Niyamakas continue.
Some of them have of their own accord mastered something in agriculture due to
their enthusiasm but unfortunately to date they have never been trained.
Another change was
devolving Agriculture and Agrarian Services to the Provincial Councils by the
13 th Amendment to our Constitution. Thenceforth the efficiency depended on the
whims and fancies of the Provincial Minister of Agriculture. Gone are the days
when I was in charge of fertilizer extension and distribution for the entire
island, when I did send out the first circular detailing the manner in which
fertilizer had to be used. That was before e mails and computers came in. The
circular was roneoed on a Gestetner machine and posted. Every Field Assistant
in every corner of the island received it the next day. That was a time when we
had an efficient postal service. The Field Assistants had to summon the
cultivation committees discuss, draft plans and get down to implementation
immediately. The Field Assistants knew that I or some Assistant Commissioner
would pounce on them impromptu, check the progress and they knew what would
happen to their service if they were found asleep. That efficient
administration was totally lost with the Provincial Councils being devolved
with agriculture.
A
fourth force was the IMF and the World Bank which came up with their Training
& Visit System of Agricultural Extension (TVS) which forbid the
use of people’s institutions- cooperatives and in Sri Lanka, cultivation
committees and instead dictated a direct role for the Departments of
Agriculture. The KVSs were asked to document the number of farmers they met
individually. With as much as a few thousands of farmers in their areas the KVS
could meet only a few. The only method of meeting a large clientele is by using
cooperatives, cultivation committees and such people’s
organizations. This did away with popular participation. The participation of the farmers is essential to enable them to use high yielding
varieties and fertilizers in the appropriate manner so that they can get
the maximum harvest. The farmers have to be consulted; their
participation evoked and working with them is an art in itself. Many village
level workers handle their work in a directive manner and they prefer to
instruct farmers rather than work with their participation. This is what
happened with the imposition of the TVS. The TVS system was imposed, with the
offer of grants and loans of foreign exchange, with added grace periods, when
no payment had to be made and it was immediately adored by our leaders because of the offer of
foreign exchange. It sounded the death knell for our excellent and vibrant
extension system, done with full peoples’ participation. There is room to think that
this move of the World Bank was aimed at crippling the development in
agriculture that was taking place apace in the Developing Countries. One will
be convinced of this sabotage only when one learns about the ill effects of the
Structural Adjustment Programme which the IMF introduced to our countries
in the next few years, which I have detailed in my book: How the IMF Ruined
Sri Lanka: (Godages)
In 1995 I came back to
Sri Lanka and working on my small family farm, I had the occasion to go again
and again to the extension offices at Udupila and Kadawata. I have narrated my
experience in my book: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka”.
The
officers there did not know the exact amount of fertilizer I should use and
relate it to the high yielding varieties of paddy. At my insistence they raked
their files and provided me with details. The circular advised the use of
ammonium sulphate and urea at the basal stage and no mention was made of its
use as the top dressing.. I brought this to the notice of the Secretary to the
Ministry and .months later I got a reply to the effect that the advice given to
me was out of date by half a dozen years. About a year later I dropped into one
of these Centers and to my amazement I found that even then the top
dressing had not been incorporated into the advice. There is
not a single farmer who does not know that ammonium sulphate/urea has to be
used as the top dressing.”
What this illustrates is
a total break down in agricultural extension. This is corroborated by
Agricultural Officer Cecil Dharmasena in his very insightful article in The
Island of 22/4/13, he states,
The
lack of an organized and coordinated extension and advisor system today as we
had in the past(prior to the Provincial Council Administration System), where
the Department of Agriculture through its comprehensive island wide
extension division provided an efficient service appears to be the biggest drawback
in agriculture at present.”
He refers to both the
decision of President Premadasa to make all KVSs Grama Niladharis leaving a gap
at the village level as well as the decision based on the 13 th Amendment to
our Constitution to devolve the subject of agriculture to the Provincial
Council as the cause. He even states that today all types of agencies
of the Provincial Council and private sector offer confusing services.”
These details about the
lacuna in the extension services is further corroborated by another
Agricultural Officer, Ranjith Mulleriyawa in The Island of
4/6/13, where he states that after the promotion of the KVSs- the Field
Assistants at the village level to become Grama Niladhari, the Agricultural
Instructors had to supervise and offer extension services to as much as 13,000
farmers at Yodakandiya and 3,500 farmers at Ranoruwa. Covering even 500 farmers
is a major task for a single officer and covering thousands mean that the
service will be severely crippled. Even today the Agricultural Instructors
cannot offer a proper service as their assistants are the Niyamakas who in
their ignorance of agriculture are actually the laughing stock of the farmers.
Having met a few farmers here and there on my annual visits I can definitely
corroborate with both Ranjith Mulleriyawa as well as Cecil Dharmasena for the
total breakdown of agricultural extension. The heading of Ranjith Mulleriyawa’s
article itself Truth is Stranger than Fiction: Messing up Agriculture”
speaks volumes. Further the Niyamakas belong to the Agrarian Services
Department while the trained agriculturist, the Agricultural Instructor comes
under the Department of Agriculture.
In fact I was convinced
for long about the fact that the extension system had broken down with fertilizer
being misused but I wanted definite corroboration and this paper emerged after
reading their insightful comments. I am most thankful to them. Crusader Ranjith
Mulleriyawa is no more. He passed away recently.
The fact that the extension
service is broken up is also clearly evident because the planting of paddy is
now not adhering to the rainfall pattern, though the bulk of paddy cultivation
is rainfed. In the earlier system under the Vel Vidanes of the days when the
Government Agents handled minor irrigation and later when the cultivation
committees handled paddy cultivation there was a definite system where the
farmers met at Kanna meetings at the beginning of each season and decided when
to cultivate, what seed to use and when to harvest etc. Even fines were decided
which was strictly enforced by courts of law. After the cultivation
committees were disbanded the Yaya Representatives under the Agrarian Services
Act were ineffective. Now, Kanna meetings are not held systematically, with the
result that late cultivation is common and the harvest gets damaged by the
oncoming rains.
It would augur well for
our Ministry of Agriculture to please consider establishing a people’s
institution like the cultivation committee to handle paddy cultivation and the
use of fertilizer could be attend to by this organization. This is a prime
requirement today.
With the breakdown of the
extension service the farmers are left to their own devices. I have spoken to a
few farmers on my visit last year and they were using ammonium sulphate and
urea at the basal stage, Every one research paper I have read of fertilizer use
tells me that ammonium sulphate or urea if used at the basal stage just leaches
into the soil in the absence of a standing crop to absorb it. To my thinking
this misuse of fertilizer is one of the main causes for the CDUK disease. I
have no doubts about it.
Further the
Niyamakas have to be trained and may I suggest that this be taken up
immediately- at least a months’ crash course in paddy plantation.
I
fear that the neglect in agricultural extension which is key to the neglect in
the use of fertilizer if not corrected will lead to the kidney disease
spreading in Sri Lanka which may kill perhaps millions. Let that predicament
not happen to my motherland. We do have the ability to avoid it.”
Garvin
Karunaratne, Ph.D Michigan State University,
Former
G.A,. Matara
08092020 garvin_karunaratne@ hotmail.com
