Dr Sudath Gunasekara

Colombo, November 21 (Daily Mirror) – The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation has established a special unit to address the issue of harmful animal populations causing significant damage to crops. This initiative aims to implement multiple strategies for sustainable control.

A special discussion on the matter was held under the chairmanship of Minister K. D. Lalkantha. The discussion focused on identifying sustainable measures to control toque monkeys and other animals that cause extensive damage to key crops, such as coconuts and fruits.

The Ministry outlined plans to implement an immediate and actionable work plan.

Representatives from about 15 institutions participated in the discussion including the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation, the Wildlife Conservation Department, the Agriculture Department, the Agricultural Research Institute, the Sri Lanka Army, and the Civil Defence Force.

My Comment

This is an excellent move to rescue the entire agricultural sector. If it is properly done, that alone, will protect 60 % of the country’s agricultural production as it is the estimated percentage of crop lost annually, and the new Minister will be a national hero even if he does not do anything else during his tenure as Minister of Agriculture.  One can just imagine the plight of the nation’s agricultural sector when such a high % is lost, that being the mainstay of our economy.

 I can remember, way back in 2014 at a meeting convened by the chief Minister CP at my request to discuss the monkey and stray dog problem in Hanthana, where I live just on the fringe of the city. The then chief minister came out with a bunch of problems explaining the difficulty in sorting out he issue. My simple response to his apology was, if the provincial council or the government cannot solve even such a simple problem, why we have a government at all, with such a massive political and administrative network spending almost 85 % of the national income. I also told him, during the times of the British this country was run by one Governor in Colombo assisted by three state Secretaries and 9 Government Agents in the 9 Provinces assisted by a small band of native officials  compared with the present day army of nearly 100 or more Cabinet Ministers heads by an executive President (as it was then), as the say goes who could do anything under the sun other than making a woman a man and vice versa, nine governors in the provinces again armed with 9 Chief Ministers of Cabinet rank  with another  band of  36 Ministers in the provinces, more than 150 Secretaries in Colombo and the Provinces Assisted BY 25 Government Agents and a whole band of  public officials.

He smiled rather sarcastically, but did not utter a single word thereafter and we left. Monkey – stray dog menace still exist at Hanthana as the sunrises in the morning and sets in the evening, with no chance of a solution as the monkeys and the dogs also have got voting rights in Sri Lanka. Governments come and Governments go.  We are left helpless, saddled with an eternal survival problem with no foreseeable permanent solution for these monkey donkey problems. I If only someone can visit my place at no 21 Gemunu Mavatha Hanthana pedesa, Mahanuwwara. Only 1 km from the city center he can see the mutilated banana and coconut tree tops and vegetable plants and even sweet potato beds. Of cause, I need not tell you about the damages done to crops and houses by elephants in the Dry Zone villages, that is daily displayed on the TV and the press.

Therefore, we look forward hopefully that at least this new Minister and his government will sort out this eternal between man -animal competition for survival.