{"id":119742,"date":"2021-10-29T15:58:40","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T22:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=119742"},"modified":"2021-10-29T15:58:40","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T22:58:40","slug":"to-remind-our-leaders-what-we-need-today-our-former-marketing-department-to-ensure-vegetables-at-fair-prices-including-a-cannery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/10\/29\/to-remind-our-leaders-what-we-need-today-our-former-marketing-department-to-ensure-vegetables-at-fair-prices-including-a-cannery\/","title":{"rendered":"To remind our leaders what we need today: Our former Marketing Department to ensure vegetables at fair prices including a Cannery."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

  It is\nhoped that our President\u2019s attention is brought to the fact that our country\nwas the only country in the world to  have a system by which the prices of\nveg and fruit was unofficially controlled. That was the Marketing\nDepartment(MD) at work, buying and selling vegetables and fruit, competing with\nprivate traders, keeping a low margin of around fifteen percent to cover up\ncost of transport and wastage in handling. It would behove of\nour President to immediately order the Army to buy vegetables from the Producer\nFairs, keep a margin of fifteen percent to cover cost of petrol and wastage and\nsell in the Cities. Traders keep at least a total of one hundred percent \nat the buying place, at the wholesale dealer in Colombo and at the retailer\u2019s\nplace. The Army was entrusted with this task in the days of\nPremier Mahinda Rajapaksa in about 1998 and then the city was full of army\nlorries selling vegetables. I have seen them perform this yeoman service.     <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dambulla Economic Centre\nand economic Centers at many places- is not the answer, because as detailed in\nthe Daily Mirror of 24\/2 : vegetables brought to Dambulla from the areas of\nvegetable cultivation are distributed back (for sale) to the original areas\u2026\nthese centers are controlled by large scale traders  with vested\ninterests.\u201d Once it was reported that the officer entrusted with the Dambulla Economic\nCenter was severely assaulted <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is traders that rule. When I\nonce went to Dambulla and walked around, it was only traders. My incessant\nvisits to producer Fairs  for over six years enables me to sniff producers\nfrom a fair distance. It will be a difficult task to find a Producer Fair in\nentire Sri Lanka not visited by me.   <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1955 when I joined the MD as\nan Assistant Commissioner we did work from small shanty type of  sheds- we\ncalled them Packing Sheds. They were all buildings built with timber, a cement\nfloor and a corrugated cladding to keep off the rain and in a corner was housed\nthe Assistant Commissioner working in the air and dust of onions and\ncondiments. There were no DPJ Towers or Setsiripayas for us.  These were\nshed put up overnight to house the British Army when the Japanaese declared war. In\nthe MD,our work commenced at 4 AM in the mornings on at least four days a week,\nvisiting Producer fairs and ensuring that we bought produce competing with the\ntraders. <\/strong> <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Once in the\npre IMF days, in the days before Sri Lanka started playing poodle to the IMF\nSri Lanka did have a method by which it controlled inflation. That\nwas the Marketing Department at work. There was a  scheme where the\nMarketing Department purchased vegetables at the producer fairs, brought the\nproduce overnight to the cities and sold the produce keeping a very low margin\nof fifteen percent to cover up cost of transport and wastage. This Scheme which\nhad been developed by Sri Lankan administrators and politicians was abolished\non instructions from the IMF in 1978 when the Jayawardena Government caved in\nto the IMF. Since then it is the private sector traders that rule trade. If\nonly the Marketing Department  activities are restored, we can not only\ncontrol inflation, but we can also reduce imports and also find employment for\nour people. It is time that our new Government makes an\ninitiative to re establish the Marketing Department activities- its vegetable\nand fruit marketing scheme and the Canning Factory. That will be a real\nachievement. Inflation- Rising Prices is a major concern\ntoday. Sri Lanka had built up the infrastructure to control inflation. What we\nare seeing today-unbridled inflation, has been caused because we  did away\nwith the infrastructure we had. For the marketing of\nessential commodities, in my own words: <\/strong>The Department for the Development  of\nAgricultural Marketing\u201d\u00a6 ensured that prices of all essential commodities were\nindirectly controlled and the traders were compelled to offer fair prices to\nthe producers and the retail shop keepers were compelled to sell at fair prices\nto consumers.  This is a system that I have never seen elsewhere in the\nworld\u2019 \u00a6The motto of the Department was to pay the highest possible price to\nthe producer and sell at the lowest possible price  to the consumer.( From:\nHow the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka,\u201d\u00a6 (Godages: 2006)<\/em>  <\/em>I\nwas involved with the entire System because I was appointed Assistant\nCommissioner for the Development of Agricultural Marketing in 1955, and worked\nin the Ratnapura, Hambantota, Anuradhapura  Districts as well as was in\ncharge of the Tripoli Market, the Headquarters of the Vegetable Marketing\nScheme for a year in 1957.  <\/em>This\nSystem involved a Network of Retail Shops(Fair Price Shops) in every major city\nand a Vegetable  and Fruit Marketing Scheme involving purchasing, selling\nand processing   vegetables and fruits, a Scheme  that covered\nthe entire island. The entire island was covered by Assistant Commissioners in\nthe Provinces and Marketing Officers posted in producer areas, who had to\nreport the availability of produce, prices at the Fairs, and guide producers to\nplant varieties in demand. <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

. The\nentire Vegetable Marketing Scheme was administered from Tripoli Market, based\nin the largest hangar in the Colombo Goodshed.  One part of the Scheme was\nto purchase vegetables and fruits from producers who brought their produce to\nour Vegetable Packing Sheds. They were paid immediate cash. The Department was\nequipped with lorries that were sent to the chief  Producer Fairs in the\nproducer areas. Thus there were mobile purchasing uints at all major fairs like\nEmbilipitiya, Colombage Ara,  Bandarawela, Welimada, Kekirawa to mention\njust a few. These Purchasing Units comprised Marketing Officers and a staff of\npurchasing officers and labourers. The produce brought in was weighed and\naccepted from producers and they were paid cash immediately. The Assistant\nCommissioners of the Districts were required to visit all major fairs to ensure\nthat the purchases were made regularly. When I worked in the Districts on most\ndays my day commenced at four to get to the Fairs by six in the morning.\nVegetables were purchased and packed and dispatched to Triploi by evening\neither by wagons(by trains) or by special lorry. At Tripoli\nMarket, the Assistant Commissioner  had a Marketing Officer at the Colombo\nWholesale Market. His task was to report the prices at which the wholesale\ntraders sold the produce to the retail traders and to report on the\navailability of produce. In the Districts, the Assistant Commissioners and the\nMarketing Officers had to report the prices at which private traders purchased\nvegetables and fruit.  Generally there was a wide gap between the prices\nat which the traders purchased goods and the prices at which the Wholesale\nTraders sold to the retail traders in Colombo. Based on these prices, the\nAssistant Commissioner at Tripoli Market decided the purchasing prices at which\ngoods were to be purchased at the Fairs. This price was always above the prices\noffered by the traders who bought goods at the Fairs. This helped the producers\nand the traders at the Fairs too had to offer a similar price because otherwise\nthey will be out of business. On a daily basis Tripoli Market\nreceived around twenty wagon loads of vegetables and a similar number of\nlorries bringing in produce. These were checked and had to be in our Retail\nshops by ten in the morning.  Tripoli Market was a hive of activity from\nearly morning.  Then the Railways ran a very efficient service and brought\nin produce in time.  For instance curd from Ridiyagama Farm in Hambantota\nwas sent by lorry to Matara and came by night mail train to Tripoli. This was\nan item in high demand. The retail price we fixed for Ridiyagama Curd\neffectively controlled the prices of curd in private shops in Colombo. The\nAssistant Commissioner at Triploi Market kept a very low margin to cover up\ncost of transport and handling and fixed a low price for sales to the consumers\nthrough the network of Shops. Generally the Marketing Department kept a margin\nof around 10 to 15% above the purchase price while the private trader at the\nFair  kept a margin to 40 to 50% and the Whoelsale Traders too kept around\n40% and further the retail trader too kept around 40%.  Thus while the\nprivate trader generally kept a margin of 100% or 120% over the purchasing price\nat the Fair, the Marketing Department kept a margin of 10% to 15%.   The\nworking of the Marketing Department  meant that the private traders at the\nFairs and the Wholesale Traders as well as the Retail Traders in the cities had\nto be satisfied with a low margin. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nMarketing Department in the Fifties was headed by BLW Fernando, a Chartered\nAccountant and he would not allow any Assistant Commissioner to keep a higher\nmargin than 15%. That was a rule to be followed. Every month all Assistant\nCommissioners had to attend a Conference where the Profit and Loss calculations\nwere closely studied and the Commissioner would chastise all Assistant\nCommissioners that  had a profit of over 10% or incurred a loss.  We\nwere expected to cover up, not to incur a loss or  to get a large profit. This\nwas the key method by which the prices of vegetables and fruits were kept in\ncheck. The Scheme has thus a dual aim- of offering the producer a fair price as\nwell as offering the consumer a low price.  At times it was like walking\non a rope but we got used to walk on it. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Retail\nShops had to be well stocked and full of goods otherwise the wrath of the\nCommissioner had to be faced. A few years ago on one of my\nvisits I found tomatoes being sold at forty rupees a kilo by a producer on the\nMahiyangana Road, when the retail price in Colombo was around rupees eighty to\none hundred, a margin of over hundred percent. This could not happen while the\nMarketing Department was at work. The Assistant Commissioners  were\neternally traveling as they had to visit Fairs, inspect purchasing at the Fairs\nand the Vegetable Purchasing Depots, contact producers and offer advice on\nitems on demand. Generally our traveling allowances exceeded our salaries. Tripoli\nMarker had cold rooms where the excess produce could be stored. This\nVegetable Marketing & Fruit Marketingh Scheme  was very successful in\nensuring that consumers in cities obtained vegetables and fruits at cheap\nrates. The Cost of Living was effectively kept in check.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canning\nFactory Local producers got a boost with the establishment of\nthe Canning Factory in 1955. At that time Sri Lanka imported fruit juice and\nfruit from Australia and the task of the Canning factory was to produce fruit\njuice, jam 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. <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once Sri\nLanka was not self sufficient in eggs. The Marketing Department offered a floor\nprice for eggs and Triploi Market collected eggs from the Negombo-Nattandiya\narea till Sri Lanka was self sufficient in egg production. Once Self\nsufficiency was  reached the scheme was disbanded. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the\nabolition of the Marketing Department, and the privatization of the canning\nfactory all this achievement was lost. That was the way in which the IMF\ncrippled the development of the Third World and created a situation where we\nhad to import our requirements from the Developed Countries. Once\nthe tomatoes producers at Hanguranketa made pandals of tomatoes in order to\nhighlight their plight of not being able to sell their tomatoes. This could not\nhave happened while the Marketing Department was functioning. To start with the\nAssistant Commissioner of the area would be held responsible. If that happened\nwhen I was in charge of The Tripoli Market I would have sent a few lorries and\nthe entire stock of tomatoes would have been purchased within a few hours and\nit would have been turned into Tomatoe Sauce and Juice at the Factory. The MD\nhad a fleet of over a hundred lorries. Today Spain produces tomatoe sauce,\ntomatoe juice, tomato paste and sun dried tomatoes for most countries in\nEurope. With a Tomatoe belt in Hanguranketa we cannot produce tomato sauce even\nfor our requirements. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our climate\nhad enabled a variety of crops. There is a mango belt from Anuradhapura to\nMatale. Even today if action is taken to pluck mangoes and process it, we can\nbe self sufficient in all fruit juice within six months. The Chena\ncultivators will find sales for their Red Pumpkin,Ash Pumpkin and Melon. There\nis an Avacado belt from Peradeniya to Gampola and avacado juice can easily be\nmade. The country will benefit by avoiding the millions spent on imports. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following\nthe liberalization free market economics of the IMF we  created a market\nfor tomatoe sauce from the USA, and fruit juice from as far as Canada and\nOregan in the USA.  Our producers have stopped producing large quantities\nfor fear of being unable to sell and we have unemployment and our farmers have\nlow incomes. The Colombo Supermarkets are full of Heinz Tomatoes sauce from the\nUSA and fruit juice and jam from Australia. Even vinegar from the USA! The IMF\ndid its work right to cripple development in our countries and for us to buy\ngoods from the Developed Countries.  That was the Structural Adjustment\nProgramme in action. (For more details: How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development:\nKindle & Godages) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is sad\nthat we have   deaf, dumb and blind  economists who even fail to\ncome to grips with how we were duped by the IMF. I hope the\nArmy will be enlisted for this task of marketing development. In President\nTrump\u2019s USA the Army is widely used for irrigation, power station construction,\neven maintaining levees that keep the sea from flooding New Orleans. In my wide\ntravel in the USA, clocking over 50,000 miles in my Roadtrek motorhome,\ncrossing America thrice I have seen the Army at work doing non military duties\non a regular basis. It is we fools that do not enlist the Army for development\ntasks. If at all we touch the army we call them to the barracks in a short\nwhile. Let the Army experience of Van Sales, this time end\nwith the establishing of a proper Marketing Department with a Cannery. The\ntotal cost of establishing a Cannery can be easily recouped in the very first\nyear by the savings of foreign exchange we use today to import fruit juice and\nfruit preparations   Later on the Army venture can be handed over to\na SLAS Department and the Army moved to another task- perhaps the\nreconstruction of our irrigation tanks. <\/strong> <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me live in hope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Former G.A. Matara <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

29\/10\/2021<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne\u00a0   It is hoped that our President\u2019s attention is brought to the fact that our country was the only country in the world to  have a system by which the prices of veg and fruit was unofficially controlled. That was the Marketing Department(MD) at work, buying and selling vegetables and fruit, competing with […]<\/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-119742","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\/119742","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=119742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119742\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}