{"id":100369,"date":"2020-03-26T17:42:49","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T00:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=100369"},"modified":"2020-03-26T17:44:36","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T00:44:36","slug":"a-special-message-to-our-excellency-the-president-from-dr-garvin-karunaratne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/03\/26\/a-special-message-to-our-excellency-the-president-from-dr-garvin-karunaratne\/","title":{"rendered":"A Special Message to our Excellency the President. From Dr Garvin Karunaratne"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne,<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Please consider getting\nthe Army to establish the Marketing Department of the Fifties and thereby\nenable vegetable availability as well as controlling inflation. It can be later\ndeveloped to be a major department. The total outlay can be recouped including\nthe cost of establishing a Cannery within the first year. I can vouch for this,\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My earlier paper is\nreproduced and if implemented now(can be done in days) will be a great feat.\nThanks Garvin Karunaratne(garvin_karunaratne @ hotmail com)26\/03\/2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our President\u2019s Clarion\nCall for a Remedy to high veg prices<\/strong>.<\/strong>
\nPosted on February 25th, 2020 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Garvin Karunaratne,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is hoped that our President\u2019s attention is brought to the\nfact that our country was the only country in the world to  have a system\nby which the prices of veg and fruit was unofficially controlled. That was the\nMarketing Department(MD) at work, buying and selling vegetables and fruit,\ncompeting with private traders, keeping a low margin of around fifteen percent\nto cover up cost of transport and wastage in handling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would behove of our President to immediately order the Army\nto buy vegetables from the Producer Fairs, keep a margin of fifteen percent to\ncover cost of petrol and wastage and sell in the Cities. Traders keep at least\na total of one hundred percent  at the buying place, at the wholesale\ndealer in Colombo and at the retailer\u2019s place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army was entrusted with this task in the days of Premier\nMahinda Rajapaksa in about 1998 and then the city was full of army lorries\nselling vegetables. I have seen them perform this yeoman service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dambulla Economic Centre and economic Centers at many places-\nis not the answer, because as detailed in the Daily Mirror of 24\/2 Take\nImmediate steps to control Veg prices: Pres. to Officials\u201d because vegetables\nbrought to Dambulla from the areas of vegetable cultivation are distributed\nback (for sale) to the original areas\u2026 these centers are controlled by large\nscale traders  with vested interests.\u201d Once it was reported that the\nofficer entrusted with the Dambulla Economic Center was severely assaulted. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is traders that rule. When I once went to Dambulla and walked\naround, it was only traders. My incessant visits to producer Fairs  for\nover six years enables me to sniff producers from a fair distance. It will be a\ndifficult task to find a Producer Fair in entire Sri Lanka not visited by me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1955 when I joined the MD as an Assistant Commissioner we did\nwork from small shanty type of  sheds- we called them Packing Sheds. They\nwere all buildings built with timber, a cement floor and a corrugated cladding\nto keep off the rain and in a corner was housed the Assistant Commissioner\nworking in the air and dust of onions and condiments. There were no DPJ Towers\nor Setsiripayas for us.  These were shed put up overnight to house the\nBritish Army when the Japanaese declared war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the MD,our work commenced at 4 AM in the mornings on at least\nfour days a week, visiting Producer fairs and ensuring that we bought produce\ncompeting with the traders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\ninclude parts of my earlier writings, edited to avoid repetition in support.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(From:High Prices for Vegetables: Is there a\nremedy?<\/strong> Posted on January 19th, 2020 0<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Once in the pre IMF days, in the days before Sri Lanka started\nplaying poodle to the IMF Sri Lanka did have a method by which it controlled\ninflation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the Marketing Department at work. There was a \nscheme where the Marketing Department purchased vegetables at the producer\nfairs, brought the produce overnight to the cities and sold the produce keeping\na very low margin of fifteen percent to cover up cost of transport and wastage.\nThis Scheme which had been developed by Sri Lankan administrators and\npoliticians was abolished on instructions from the IMF in 1978 when the\nJayawardena Government caved in to the IMF. Since then it is the private sector\ntraders that rule trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If only the Marketing Department  activities are restored,\nwe can not only control inflation, but we can also reduce imports and also find\nemployment for our people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is time that our new Government makes an initiative to re\nestablish the Marketing Department activities- its vegetable and fruit\nmarketing scheme and the Canning Factory. That will be a real achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inflation- Rising Prices is a major concern today. Sri Lanka had\nbuilt up the infrastructure to control inflation. What we are seeing\ntoday-unbridled inflation, has been caused because we  did away with the\ninfrastructure we had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the marketing of essential commodities, in my own words:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department for the\nDevelopment  of Agricultural Marketing\u201d\u00a6 ensured that prices of all\nessential commodities were indirectly controlled and the traders were compelled\nto offer fair prices to the producers and the retail shop keepers were\ncompelled to sell at fair prices to consumers.  This is a system that I\nhave never seen elsewhere in the world\u2019 \u00a6The motto of the Department was to pay\nthe highest possible price to the producer and sell at the lowest possible\nprice  to the consumer.( From: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka,\u201d\u00a6 (Godages:\n2006)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em>I was involved with the entire System because\nI was appointed Assistant Commissioner for the Development of Agricultural\nMarketing in 1955, and worked in the Ratnapura, Hambantota, Anuradhapura \nDistricts as well as was in charge of the Tripoli Market, the Headquarters of\nthe Vegetable Marketing Scheme for a year in 1957.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em>This System involved a Network of Retail\nShops(Fair Price Shops) in every major city and a Vegetable  and Fruit\nMarketing Scheme involving purchasing, selling and processing  \nvegetables and fruits, a Scheme  that covered the entire island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire island was covered by Assistant Commissioners in the\nProvinces and Marketing Officers posted in producer areas, who had to report\nthe availability of produce, prices at the Fairs, and guide producers to plant\nvarieties in demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Marketing Department established Vegetable and Fruit Packing\nSheds(actually purchasing units) in all producing areas. The name given was\npacking sheds and they were in many places in temporary buildings mostly made\nwith timber. Even some Assistant Commissioners had their offices in these\ntemporary buildings in 1955.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire Vegetable Marketing Scheme was administered from\nTripoli Market, based in the largest hangar in the Colombo Goodshed.  One\npart of the Scheme was to purchase vegetables and fruits from producers who\nbrought their produce to our Vegetable Packing Sheds. They were paid immediate\ncash. The Department was equipped with lorries that were sent to the\nchief  Producer Fairs in the producer areas. Thus there were mobile\npurchasing uints at all major fairs like Embilipitiya, Colombage Ara, \nBandarawela, Welimada, Kekirawa to mention just a few. These Purchasing Units\ncomprised Marketing Officers and a staff of purchasing officers and labourers.\nThe produce brought in was weighed and accepted from producers and they were\npaid cash immediately. The Assistant Commissioners of the Districts were required\nto visit all major fairs to ensure that the purchases were made regularly. When\nI worked in the Districts on most days my day commenced at four to get to the\nFairs by six in the morning. Vegetables were purchased and packed and\ndispatched to Triploi by evening either by wagons(by trains) or by special\nlorry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Tripoli Market, the Assistant Commissioner  had a\nMarketing Officer at the Colombo Wholesale Market. His task was to report the\nprices at which the wholesale traders sold the produce to the retail traders\nand to report on the availability of produce. In the Districts, the Assistant\nCommissioners and the Marketing Officers had to report the prices at which\nprivate traders purchased vegetables and fruit.  Generally there was a\nwide gap between the prices at which the traders purchased goods and the prices\nat which the Wholesale Traders sold to the retail traders in Colombo. Based on\nthese prices, the Assistant Commissioner at Tripoli Market decided the\npurchasing prices at which goods were to be purchased at the Fairs. This price\nwas always above the prices offered by the traders who bought goods at the\nFairs. This helped the producers and the traders at the Fairs too had to offer\na similar price because otherwise they will be out of business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a daily basis Tripoli Market received around twenty wagon\nloads of vegetables and a similar number of lorries bringing in produce. These\nwere checked and had to be in our Retail shops by ten in the morning. \nTripoli Market was a hive of activity from early morning.  Then the\nRailways ran a very efficient service and brought in produce in time.  For\ninstance curd from Ridiyagama Farm in Hambantota was sent by lorry to Matara\nand came by night mail train to Tripoli. This was an item in high demand. The\nretail price we fixed for Ridiyagama Curd effectively controlled the prices of\ncurd in private shops in Colombo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Assistant Commissioner at Triploi Market kept a very low\nmargin to cover up cost of transport and handling and fixed a low price for\nsales to the consumers through the network of Shops. Generally the Marketing\nDepartment kept a margin of around 10 to 15% above the purchase price while the\nprivate trader at the Fair  kept a margin to 40 to 50% and the Whoelsale\nTraders too kept around 40% and further the retail trader too kept around\n40%.  Thus while the private trader generally kept a margin of 100% or\n120% over the purchasing price at the Fair, the Marketing Department kept a\nmargin of 10% to 15%.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The working of the Marketing Department  meant that the\nprivate traders at the Fairs and the Wholesale Traders as well as the Retail\nTraders in the cities had to be satisfied with a low margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Marketing Department in the Fifties was headed by BLW Fernando,\na Chartered Accountant and he would not allow any Assistant Commissioner to\nkeep a higher margin than 15%. That was a rule to be followed. Every month all\nAssistant Commissioners had to attend a Conference where the Profit and Loss\ncalculations were closely studied and the Commissioner would chastise all\nAssistant Commissioners that  had a profit of over 10% or incurred a\nloss.  We were expected to cover up, not to incur a loss or  to get a\nlarge profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the key method by which the prices of vegetables and\nfruits were kept in check. The Scheme has thus a dual aim- of offering the\nproducer a fair price as well as offering the consumer a low price.  At\ntimes it was like walking on a rope but we got used to walk on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Retail Shops had to be well stocked and full of goods\notherwise the wrath of the Commissioner had to be faced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago on one of my visits I found tomatoes being sold\nat forty rupees a kilo by a producer on the Mahiyangana Road, when the retail\nprice in Colombo was around rupees eighty to one hundred, a margin of over\nhundred percent. This could not happen while the Marketing Department was at\nwork. The Assistant Commissioners  were eternally traveling as they had to\nvisit Fairs, inspect purchasing at the Fairs and the Vegetable Purchasing\nDepots, contact producers and offer advice on items on demand. Generally our\ntraveling allowances exceeded our salaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tripoli Marker had cold rooms where the excess produce could be\nstored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Vegetable Marketing & Fruit Marketingh Scheme  was\nvery successful in ensuring that consumers in cities obtained vegetables and\nfruits at cheap rates. The Cost of Living was effectively kept in check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Canning Factory<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local producers got a boost with the establishment of the\nCanning Factory in 1955. At that time Sri Lanka imported fruit juice and fruit\nfrom Australia and the task of the Canning factory was to produce fruit juice,\njam and jellies. The Vegetable Purchasing Centers sent goods to the Canning\nFactory. At the initial stages in canning fruit juice many problems were faced\nand it took over a year to surmount them and get down to production for all Sri\nLanka\u2019s requirements. The Marketing Department offered  floor prices for\npineapples, red pumpkin and ash pumpkin and producers benefited immensely.\nFloor prices meant that the Department will purchase everything offered at that\nprice. Pineapple was tinned and even an export trade was built up. Assistant\nCommissioner Oswald Tilekeratne spread his wings abroad very often. Red Pumpkin\nwas turned into Golden Melon Jam and Ash Pumpkin was turned into Silver Melon\njam. The Factory activity made Sri Lanka self sufficient in fruit juice, jam\nand many other processed food within a few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nMarketing Department was called upon to attend to many tasks.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once Sri Lanka was not self sufficient in eggs. The Marketing\nDepartment offered a floor price for eggs and Triploi Market collected eggs\nfrom the Negombo-Nattandiya area till Sri Lanka was self sufficient in egg\nproduction. Once Self sufficiency was  reached the scheme was disbanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the abolition of the Marketing Department, and the\nprivatization of the canning factory all this achievement was lost. That was\nthe way in which the IMF crippled the development of the Third World and\ncreated a situation where we had to import our requirements from the Developed\nCountries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the tomatoes producers at Hanguranketa made pandals of\ntomatoes in order to highlight their plight of not being able to sell their\ntomatoes. This could not have happened while the Marketing Department was\nfunctioning. To start with the Assistant Commissioner of the area would be held\nresponsible. If that happened when I was in charge of The Tripoli Market I\nwould have sent a few lorries and the entire stock of tomatoes would have been\npurchased within a few hours and it would have been turned into Tomatoe Sauce\nand Juice at the Factory. The MD had a fleet of over a hundred lorries. Today\nSpain produces tomatoe sauce, tomatoe juice, tomato paste and sun dried\ntomatoes for most countries in Europe. With a Tomatoe belt in Hanguranketa we\ncannot produce tomato sauce even for our requirements. Our climate had enabled\na variety of crops. There is a mango belt from Anuradhapura to Matale. Even\ntoday if action is taken to pluck mangoes and process it, we can be self\nsufficient in all fruit juice within six months. The Chena cultivators\nwill find sales for their Red Pumpkin,Ash Pumpkin and Melon. There is an\nAvacado belt from Peradeniya to Gampola and avacado juice can easily be made.\nThe country will benefit by avoiding the millions spent on imports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the liberalization free market economics of the IMF\nwe  created a market for tomatoe sauce from the USA, and fruit juice from\nas far as Canada and Oregan in the USA.  Our producers have stopped\nproducing large quantities for fear of being unable to sell and we have\nunemployment and our farmers have low incomes. The Colombo Supermarkets are\nfull of Heinz Tomatoes sauce from the USA and fruit juice and jam from\nAustralia.Even vinegar from the USA! The IMF did its work right to cripple\ndevelopment in our countries and for us to buy goods from the Developed\nCountries.  That was the Structural Adjustment Programme in action. (For more\ndetails: How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development: Kindle & Godages)\nIt is sad that we have   deaf, dumb and blind  economists who\neven fail to come to grips with how we were duped by the IMF. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope the Army will be enlisted for this task of marketing\ndevelopment. In President Trump\u2019s USA the Army is widely used for irrigation,\npower station construction, even maintaining levees that keep the sea from\nflooding New Orleans. In my wide travel in the USA, clocking over 50,000 miles\nin my Roadtrek motorhome, crossing America thrice I have seen the Army at work\ndoing non military duties on a regular basis. It is we fools that do not enlist\nthe Army for development tasks. If at all we touch the army we call them to the\nbarracks in a short while. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let the Army experience of Van Sales, this time end with the\nestablishing of a proper Marketing Department with a Cannery. The total cost of\nestablishing a Cannery can be easily recouped in the very first year by the\nsavings of foreign exchange we use today to import fruit juice and fruit\npreparations   Later on the Army venture can be handed over to a SLAS\nDepartment and the Army moved to another task- perhaps the reconstruction of\nour irrigation tanks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me\nlive in hope.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garvin\nKarunaratne,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

25\/2\/2020<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne, Please consider getting the Army to establish the Marketing Department of the Fifties and thereby enable vegetable availability as well as controlling inflation. It can be later developed to be a major department. The total outlay can be recouped including the cost of establishing a Cannery within the first year. I can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-garvin-karunaratne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}