|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
| ||||||||||
A short cut to win the "Battle for A Better Harvest"- "Wagasangramaya" and avoid a food shortage in the country.Dr. Sudath Gunasekara (SLAS) 4. May.2008 I congratulate the government for the timely step taken to wage war
against an imminent food crisis in the near future in the wake of escalating
food prices and shortages in the world market. However to win this war
the government needs to draw its serious attention to a large number
of factors. It should be warned that rhetoric and media propaganda alone
will not deliver the expected goods. Availability of many facilities
like suitable land, water, seeds, planting materials, fertilizer, labor,
farm power, pesticides, insecticides, agricultural implements, an efficient
and effective extension service, market and a good price for agricultural
products, credit, transport and stores and correct government fiscal
and tax policy and above all an effective machinery, including organizing
farmers and even non-farmers to implement it are crucial for the success
of such a programme. At the same time it is very important that attention
also should be paid to appropriate technology, correct crop mix and
agricultural practices and proper farmer institutions. Setting up of
a machinery making use of the existing government institutions for regular
monitoring and evaluation at all levels, more particularly at the grassroots
level is very crucial. Damage by wild animals First I propose to discuss the damage caused by wild animals to food crops since it constitutes a major problem in winning this war against hunger. Although we hear and see through the media about the damages caused by wild elephants in the dry zone, so far no one appears to have given any attention to damages done by other wild animals like the wild boar, porcupines and monkeys, which perhaps is of a larger magnitude than most people think. Ban on killing and taking over of farmer's fire arms by the government have increased the wild animal population in this country by unprecedented proportions. Reduction in the actual extent of forest that forms the natural habitat of these animals due to opening up of new lands for human settlements and the increase of animal population have compelled the wild animals to invade settled areas in search of food as their natural sources are now unable to meet their requirements. In the early days farmers used different methods to get away from this problem. Erecting fences, chasing away the animals, killing and also resorting to Kem etc were the main methods they used. Today while the ever increasing animal population has made these early methods ineffective ban on killing also has helped the numbers to increase. This situation has made it impossible to protect cultivations even in urban areas, not to speak of rural areas. Wild boar, porcupine and monkeys are the most common animals that have invaded the cities. I do not know whether any one has carried out a detailed survey on this aspect. Therefore it is not possible to give any statistics on such damages. Nevertheless it could be clearly said that the damage done by such animals and the loss to national food production as a result is very great. For example let us take Hantana pedesa, the locality we live. This area located adjoining the Kandy city has plenty of land in our home gardens where small farm plots could be raised with very little cost. But nothing could be cultivated at the moment in our home gardens due to damage by wild boar and porcupine in the night and monkeys during day time. Porcupines and wild boar come in batches of 10-15 while the monkey army is over 30 or 40 in number. Apart from yams, vegetables and fruits not even a flower plant or a young coconut is spared by these creatures. Where there is nothing they at least turn the compounds, may be to search for worms. By 7-8 in the evening one can see these creatures in batches marching along the roads and some times even obstructing the vehicles. This shows their rate of spread and their, 'don't care type of attitude' to humans. Monkeys come in the morning and leave in the evening and they destroy all what is found on ground as well as on trees. This is a daily occurrence. A friend of mine the other day related an interesting story of how he has seen herds of wild boars walking down the Colombo street in the heart of the city at night, probably from Udawattakele to find their home garden crops in Piachaud gardens, Bahirawakanda and Seibel place. Today this is a very common phenomenon in all villages in and around Kandy city. I think the same menace must be operative in other parts of the country as well. This situation has made it impossible to grow any kind of yams that
occupies an important place in our diet. Assuming every home garden
plants 10 bushes of manioc, 3-4 beds of sweet potato and other yams
like kiriala and wel ala, one can imagine as to how many millions tons
of food could be added to the nation's food basket in these tiny plots
presently lying fallow through out the country? The country is deprived
of this produce due to the presence of this pest. In order to protect
this large volume of good food to the nation I suggest that, This I assure you will be a first step in winning the war against food shortages and hunger. If we could protect millions of home gardens through out the country from wild animals in this manner I have no doubt that it will help us to produce an enormous quantity of food including yams, fruits, vegetables and green leaves. That will help to bring down the cost of living appreciably and give rise to a healthy generation as they will have a source of quality bio-food diet. Lift ban on Hena cultivation Next we will consider how hena cultivation will contribute to an increase in food production and betterment of life of rural folk. There are contradicting views on hena cultivation. But as a person who comes from a village where hena cultivation has been practiced as a main economic activity from time immemorial, I would say it with confident that hena cultivation does not do any harm to the natural environment and it has played and even now plays an important role in the rural economy in this country, whatever the armchair experts on hena cultivation has to say about it. Statistics have shown that beside most cereals like kurakkan, Indian corn, green gram, yellow gram, black gram, kollu, sorghum, meneri and cow pea and nearly 80% of the pulses such as mustard, and chilies of the country was produced by the hena. Hena cultivation is predominant in the dry zone. But it also occupies a prominent place in villages like Meemure, Laggala, Minipe Walapane and Hanguranketa on the eastern slopes of the central hills. This cultivation offers a safeguard against food shortages particularly when there is insufficient water for paddy. Hena cultivation is rain fed. It also needs very little labour and constitutes an agricultural practice that produce a large variety of food items at little cost within a short period of time of one to three-four months. Through out history when ever there was a war or a shortage of water for paddy, people have always resorted to hena cultivation. Hena cultivation was resorted to even during the Second World War, under government patronage. Unfortunately the present ban on hena cultivation has deprived the nation almost half of its food production. That is not all. Farmers who depended on hena crops for their sustenance in the past today have fallen in to a vicious trap as a people dependent on imported food. Therefore they have become victims of poor health and the government's health bill also has gone up, as a result Meemure in Kandy district is one of the worst affected villages by this ban. I find it difficult to comprehend as to why the forest Department has banned it here that has nothing to do with any catchment of any reservoir in this country when they have allowed to clear land for hena cultivation even in all the catchments of Victoria, Randenigala and Rantembe reservoirs. Since the introduction of the present proportional representation system they do not have even an MP to air out their grievances either. None of the district MPP has the brain to understand or the interest to listen to their grievances. Therefore these MPP have become mere hostages of technocrats and environmental scientists. These so-called experts are also unaware of the vast wealth of benefits farmers get by way of non-cultivated food items and other benefits from -kanath- the abandoned hena lands until they are opened up for cultivation at the next season. Since hena cultivation does not use agro-chemicals like large farms it also does not emit nitric-oxide in to the atmosphere. Therefore it does not cause greenhouse effect either. In this backdrop I strongly recommend that the government permit hena cultivation that sustains almost half the population in this country, as an effective war against the food crisis. I have no doubt that such a decision will immensely benefit the governments food drive programme while enhancing the rural economy at the same time with quality food items free from toxic material. Therefore there is a strong case for allowing the hena cultivation. This however does not mean that priority given to paddy cultivation should be reduced, as it was suggested by the FAO/CP, ADB funded Second Agricultural Extension Project in 1993 (probably a sinister move to destroy paddy cultivation in this country). Paddy in any case should remain as the mainstay of our diet for ages to come as it had already been for the past 2500 years. But it alone cannot solve our present food problem. That is why we have to look for other complementary forms of farming, such as hena and home garden cultivation. I also suggest cultivating highland crops in paddy fields where irrigation water is insufficient for paddy. It might also increase the paddy yield in the following season as such practices will have the benefit of crop rotation as well.
The problem of obtaining planting materials by way of seeds, plants and cuttings is a major constraint in this field. Apart from the non-availability of quality planting materials in sufficient quantities, lack of an effective and efficient machinery to distribute them to the cultivators is a major bottleneck I have observed in this field. Their having a seed centre at the Gannoruwa or few other selected agricultural centres can never cater to the country wide national needs. Very often you can see very attractive TV and Radio programmes conducted by the Agricultural department and other agencies on this subjected. But one finds it extremely difficult to find a place on ground where you can get these materials or services. It is high time that these agencies realize that the (Wagasangramaya) Battle for A Better harvest cannot be fought on the TV. Instead they should get down to the field where they are actually grown with their material and advice. My personal experience in this field is disgusting. In my opinion the department of agriculture and other agencies dealing with this subject should make these materials readily available at the village level agricultural centres proposed as below under extension. Priority should be given to short term food crops like sweet potato, manioc, vegetables and fruits etc. The agencies should not wait at their head quarters till the potential growers come to them. Instead they should have a mechanism to find out the local requirements in advance and deliver them at their door steps. Effective Extension System The fourth strategy that is badly needed to win this war is an efficient and effective extension network. The present office and TV based extension service where farmers have little or no access to extension personal or services must be immediately replaced with a farmer centered and farmer favourable efficient and effective extension service, if the government wants to succeed in its (Wagasangramaya) Battle for A Better harvest. The TV, radio and the printed media are quick and fast but they can do very little in this regard. Direct contact and group approach, though it is a little more costly, is more effective than these remote methods. What we need today is, more and more extension workers to develop agriculture and not more ministers, more directors and more advisors as it is done today. I suggest that the government immediately go in for a programme of appointing village based extension officers who will live in their duty villages and work with the villagers looking after their needs. The kind of blunders they did in 1988 by removing nearly 2400 KVSS and appointing them as GSS should never be repeated. When this was done no bureaucrat or agricultural scientist had the guts to point out this mistake to the government, which thought, -Janasaviya- a pet political programme of the President was more important than paddy cultivation. That is the pity and the tragedy of our stale and meekly bureaucracy. As professionals trained and paid by the public they have an obligation by the people of this country to serve them. They should not forget that their sacred motto should always be 'Pro bono publico.' Those who fail to adhere to this principle are not worth to be called public servants any longer. [1] In extension what is required today is adequate number of officers at lower level, one for each village or a given number of acres (manageable) and a quality service with an efficient support service, readily available, when farmers need them. The extension officer must reside within his duty village to make his services readily available to the farmers. I can vouch such an arrangement will definitely enable the government to win the war against hunger and make this country self sufficient in food. Finally it may also be added that the (Wagasangramaya) Battle for A
Better harvest should never be confined to the poor farmers. Every man
and woman should me motivated to grow few bushes of yams and vegetables
at least on every inch of land and in every flower pot through out the
country. If this could be done it will enable each family to look after
its own kitchen and the budget while the large timers can produce for
the export market. Such a programme could not only win the war against
hunger and starvation and bring down the cost of living at home but
it will also enable the country to earn more foreign exchange as well.
Let all of us talk less and work more; prosperity will then be at our
doorsteps.
[1] When President Premadasa tried to establish Integrated Divisional
Secretariats by combining the DRO’s
|
||||||||||||
|
|
Disclaimer: The comments contained
within this website are personal reflection only and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the LankaWeb. LankaWeb.com offers the contents
of this website without charge, but does not necessarily endorse the
views and opinions expressed within. Neither the LankaWeb nor the individual
authors of any material on this Web site accept responsibility for any
loss or damage, however caused (including through negligence), which
you may directly or indirectly suffer arising out of your use of or
reliance on information contained on or accessed through this Web site.
Copyright
© 1997-2004 www.lankaweb.Com
Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved. |
|||||||||||
