ISSN: 1391 - 0531
Sunday March 16, 2008
Vol. 42 - No 42
Financial Times  

Small farmers slam World Bank, CIC for food crisis

By Tharindri Rupesinghe

Local farmers and agriculture activists slammed the World Bank for its intervention in the national agricultural sector, saying it had caused the eradication of small-time cultivations and resulted in the current high price of foods.

The Movement for Natonal Agriculture and Land Reform (MONLAR) recently held a gathering for all parties concerned to discuss the possible solutions for this problem. Rice prices vacillate in the Rs. 70 regions for one kg and wheat flour prices have reached up to the same price.

Deputy Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya has recently said that wheat consumption has reduced in urban areas by 90% and as a result, imports of wheat have likewise fallen. Sarath Fernando, Director of MONLAR argued with this saying, “That may be a good thing if rice consumption increases, but if rice prices keep rising, then our people won’t be able to consume that either and they will face a serious shortage.”

Fingers point in many directions
Former minister Indika Gunewardena who was present was vehement that the first step that needed to be taken was to give the ownership of the land they cultivate to the farmers. “What our rulers have is the feudal spirit,” he accused, alluding to the ancient custom of working on the king’s land and giving part of the harvest to the state.

According to him the tenant farmers will never be able to rise above their poverty as long the government retains some ownership of the land they work on, as is now a common problem. He scoffed at the government’s argument for this, of how it is most likely that the farmers would sell the farms to multi-nationals, leading to worse poverty. According to him, that problem can be averted by appointing some committee to overlook the farmers or by imposing a regulation to that effect.

The ‘Api wawamu rata wadamu’ initiative by the government to create four million small-scale home gardens to overcome the food crisis also came under hot discussion.

The MONLAR is trying to come up with some proposals to extend the programme to embrace ecological agriculture which in turn entails carbon fertilizer, less equipment and less use of experimental seeds. The CIC group was accused of producing seed varieties that are highly productive for one season but do not produce a second generation. Athula Priyantha, a former vegetable farmer from Welimada, who now is actively involved in campaigning for small-timers, is adamant that large-scale farming should be abolished. According to him, with the aid of the organisation like the World Bank, companies were encouraged to invest only in large-scale farms as they would be more profitable.

The real situation, he says is that in most food industries, the small timers contribute more than the established farms. As of now, 60% of tea estates are large-scale, he says, but 76% of the returns from the industry come in from minor farms. He pointed out that the large-scale farmers are commissioned to ‘monoculture’, or the cultivation of one variety of cultivation, for export. He proposes mixed cultivation that uses the technology available.

The government’s home garden initiative came under fire with one farmer present accusing the rulers, “They do this not to help the people but to make money.” Another representative of a woman’s empowerment through agriculture movement said that various parties were continuously obstructing their attempt at eco-friendly agriculture. “Someone always comes and tries to slip in some high-productive seed or some fertilizer into our stuff,” she complained, adding that these offenders say that they are simply trying to increase the harvest. “We tell them that we may not have huge harvests in the short-term but in the long term we conserve our water, enrich out soil and are better off,” she reiterated.

 

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