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Report
on oil palms urged "We need a fairly clear policy on not only oil palm but all crops and the kind of diversification that should take place. The new government should come up with a fresh policy on this," said Coconut Research Institute (CRI) chairman Dr. U.P. de S. Waidyanatha, who came under a lot of flak over a CRI report that virtually gave the go ahead for oil palms. The seminar was organized by the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS). The study done by the CRI last year to assess the impact of oil palms on the water table and other concerns raised by villages in the Nakiadeniya region in the Galle district, found no adverse effects. But it was also divulged that the study was not comprehensive and conducted just over two days without any proper research other than interviews with villagers and local government officials. The seminar was also told that an effort to plant oil palms in Mahaweli areas in the mid 1980s was abandoned by the government after a committee of SLAAS scientists studied the issue and advised the authorities against this move. The authorities did not proceed with the project following these concerns. The oil palm issue erupted last October when an elderly Malaysian oil palm consultant working for the Tata-backed Watawala Plantations was assaulted alleged by a local gang at Nakiadeniya at the behest of a local politician. It was the culmination of months of protests by residents opposed to the plantations on the ground that it was drying up water resources in the area. Waidyanatha, defending his agency's study which was done at the request of the Plantations Ministry after Watalawala Plantations. The company had appealed for some intervention to convince villagers that the crop was not affecting water resources. The CRI chairman said evaporation of the soil was more evident in rice than oil palm while tea and rubber also had a similar degree of evaporation. S. Sri Kumar, general manager at Watawala Plantations who has worked eight years in Malaysia in an oil plantation and has a total of 32 years experience in the business, said the impact on the environment was minimal as oil plantations were small in number. "Our policy is to plant oil palms in uneconomic rubber lands," he said, adding that the company took strict quarantine measures in the import of oil palm seeds from Papua New Guinea. Sri Kumar and some other speakers said oil palm was a more profitable crop than rubber but this was disputed by Rubber Research Institute Director Dr. L.M.K. Tillekeratne who is single-handedly carrying out a campaign against oil palm on the grounds that rubber can be made profitable if proper management techniques are used. Rubber
vs oil palm - the controversy deepens Probably never before has there been a crisis and heated debate on crop diversification than the current controversy over rubber versus palm oil. The issue has got so politicised that local politicians have deployed goons to threaten plantation companies and even attacked oil palm nurseries. At a seminar organised last week by the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS), (please see connected report), on the oil palm uproar which has become a big issue with pro and anti-oil palm lobbies pushing their case through the media, there was a clear message - the government must undertake a comprehensive study of the oil palm industry. It also clearly highlighted the opposing positions by the Coconut Research Institute (CRI) and the Rubber Research Institute (RRI) on the oil palm issue and begged the question - why wasn't the RRI consulted when a report was being prepared? The CRI was criticised for a report it prepared on oil palms, which said there were no adverse environmental impacts from this crop. It was also disclosed that the study did not involve any scientific or technical analysis to ascertain whether water resources in areas where oil palms are grown would be affected or not. The CRI defence was that it undertook the study at the request of the Plantations Ministry which was responding to concerns from Watawala Plantations. This company was facing protests from residents in the southern Nakiadeniya region. It was also conceded that it was not a comprehensive report. Another interesting point made was that there had been in fact a study presented by a group of SLAAS scientists on the viability of oil palm in the 1980s, when the government planned to plant this crop in some Mahaweli areas. The committee advised the government against the move, and that view was respected by the authorities. The CRI should have studied this report too in making its observations on environmental concerns at Nakiadeniya. Both sides of the oil palm debate have sound arguments. Oil palm plantations backed by the Planters' Association are strongly of the view that this is much more profitable than rubber, which has been hit by low prices, shrinking land use and lack of political clout. Political clout is the key to many issues in Sri Lanka and in rubber, in which some 70 percent of the production comes from smallholders unlike crops like tea which are controlled by giant plantation companies, this is a rare commodity. As a result rubber has been neglected over the years with land use shrinking for a variety of reasons like state acquisition for development and growers shifting to other crops because of poor rubber prices. On the positive side, much of our rubber is being consumed locally by a rubber-based industry that is growing by the day. Rubber, according to experts, has 300-plus uses, while Sri Lanka produces the world's only sole crepe and is the only global producer of solid tyres, a product that is set to expand here. Both rubber
and oil palm have its benefits but we must get away from ad hoc
diversification which is happening in plantations across the country
particularly after state plantations were privatised. Plantation
companies are implementing various crop diversification schemes
and mixing up crops with the traditional tea, rubber and coconut
for economical reasons. So far the private sector has done a fine job in running estates ruined under state control but the oil palm issue is raising fresh concerns about the suitable type of crops for this country and the need to undertake a proper study. It is necessary that in preparing a policy on crop diversification that could serve as a guideline to the private sector, the views of all interested parties - industry, researchers, scientists and most importantly growers - are considered. But before that is done - in the interim period - the government must quickly commission a comprehensive study of oil palm and the use of rubber land for this crop and make it public and lay to rest any fears on oil palm. One of the speakers at the oil palm seminar spoke of how a lucrative cocoa plantation in the hills was destroyed to make way for an industrial park. This happened despite protests from the community. The park was a failure and has been abandoned. Is this the kind of development we want? The private sector on the other hand shouldn't be blamed for investment in new plantation crops. In an economy where the private sector is the engine of growth, it is the government that sets the policies and provides proper guidelines for investment. This is sadly
lacking in the agricultural sector as seen by the oil palm issue.
The previous government should also be blamed for tackling this
issue haphazardly. |
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