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SriLankan to serve local cashew nuts, but industry is limping
SriLankan Airlines has been instructed to obtain their cashew nuts from the Sri Lanka Cashew Corporation in the future by the Public Enterprises Development Ministry, a senior official at the ministry informed.
Ravindra Hewavitharana, the ministry secretary told the Sunday Times that Minister Lakshman Kiriella made this decision following President Maithripala Sirisena’s recent public outrage over substandard cashews served by the carrier, which were sourced from a Dubai-based importer.
The Minister had invited the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cashew Corporation, Damsiri Bandara Karunaratne to meet with the SriLankan Airlines board of directors, and come to an agreement. Mr. Karunaratne said that the minister emphasised the need for SriLankan to consider the quality of the cashews over the price, during the meeting.
“We supplied cashew nuts to Sri Lankan until 2016, and then they switched suppliers, citing the domestic cashew price to be too costly,” Mr. Karunaratne said. SriLankan Airlines media spokesperson Deepal Perera said the airline had chosen the Dubai-based supplier last December, with the first shipment arriving in stores this February.
He said the carrier decided to switch suppliers and go for a foreign-based importer because the local suppliers were not able to source the quantities required by SriLankan. “We made the selection in an open bid, and the decision was based on the procurement policy applicable for State Own Enterprises (SOE),” he said.
He said that the Cashew Corporation lost 35% of its daily public sales for two days after President Maithripala Sirisena’s public criticism of the quality of cashew served on the national airline.
“We usually earn a revenue of Rs. 100,000 daily from our retail outlets, but this fell to around 65,000, as people thought there was a serious issue with the domestic cashew product. It was only after a couple of days that the people realised the supplier was in Dubai and obtained his product from abroad,” Mr. Karunaratne said.
Meanwhile, the domestic cashew industry is beset with a series of problems which choke growth. He said that during the war, much of the land in the north and east with Cashew Corporation owned plantations were neglected.
“It’s been almost a decade since the end of the war, but the majority of these lands are still occupied by the military,” he said. “The Government has to do more and give these lands back to the corporation. We had 30,000 acres in the north and 70,000 acres in the east. Large parts of these were first occupied by the LTTE and now by the Sri Lankan military. We are not asking for the entire land area back. The military can have their camps, but they don’t need thousands of acres for this. Wild plants have grown in most of the lands making them forests. This harms cashew growth as the plant dies after contamination.”
He said there was great potential in the industry. “Sri Lankan cashew is the preferred variety in Europe. We are called the Queen of Nuts. Sadly, we lack the required support to expand.”
The Cashew Corporation currently produces ten to twelve metric tonnes annually. The chairman said that this wasn’t sufficient for domestic consumption let alone to export. The Corporation imports cashew for the sole-purpose of re-exporting, after value additions.
“We do this to create jobs and bring in revenue to the country. We don’t import for domestic use,” Mr. Karunaratne said.
He said that 30,000 families were employed in the trade. “But the problem is that cashew production ends by November every year, and until the next season begins in April, the families are left without work. To cope with this we allow those who process cashew to import 6,000 metric tonnes raw, from November to the end of March. These then suffice till the following season begins,” he said. Twenty-Five cashew-processing firms have submitted applications for import so far.
The corporation will be requesting land in the Mullaitivu district that is presently used for tobacco cultivation. This follows on from a Government decision to reduce the amount of land allocated for tobacco growing. The conditions in the Mullaitivu district are ideal for cashew plantations.
The corporation expects a budget increase from the government and a faster approval process to attract investors. “There was an investment proposal which was approved by cabinet promptly, but was held up over some environment issues by the Central Environment Authority without a decision either way. This made the investors fed up, and they left,” the chairman said.
“The Government does offer support, he declared. Recently the Prime Minister and the Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation started a project with the corporation where families in the north would be allocated land for cashew cultivation. Presently requirements have been met for the growth of 46,756 seedling and budded plants in the five districts. However, if support is increased to enable us to operate at full potential, we can make this a thriving industry.”