Agri sector looks for younger hands

By Cheranka Mendis

The government wants more youthful hands in the domestic agri business as the world moves towards an impending food crisis. Agricultural value chain must be built to realise its full potential, officials said and this must start with empowering more young to take on the agri sector development that is observed as a major void in the industry.

Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena on Monday claimed that by 2013 the world will have nine billion people to feed dragging the economy into a food crisis that is likely to weigh heavily on small and developing countries such as Sri Lanka. “It is high time that we concentrate on the limited resources we have and improve conditions in what ways we can. Agri bizz is an important one to the country and that is why despite protests government increased paddy prices by Rs. 30- three fold the price it was,” Abeywardena said. “President Rajapaksa asserted that if we wanted to keep people in the trade we must ensure that they receive a reasonable income. Therefore, the increase in price,” he explained.

He commented that as it is now it is more profitable to be a beach boy than a farmer. None would enter the profession if it didn’t pay enough, he said, “agri business must make profit.”

In the late 90s replanting and manual weeding were considered the best practices, Chairman of Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Dr. Anura Ekanayake added, “however you rarely see young men and women in the field. Only the old and greying men take to the fields now. Therein lies the biggest challenge.” Only way of overcoming this is to modernise the industry by bringing in dignity to farmers through technological advancement, he said.

Ekanayake said that market forces have now come forward showing signs of encouragement. Combined harvesting of East, North and North Central provinces has transformed the agri industry already, he said, with little doing from the state sector. “The transformation purely came from the organised private sector. They saw the need for such a transformation saw the potential and went ahead and did it. Such market force participation is encouraging.”

Sky is the limit for local agri business, Ekanayake assured even though the challenges in full revival of the sector are large. “The largest extent of land in single practice for paddy and vegetables is in the Eastern province of the country.

However, there is also a lot of poverty as well due to the past war, Tsunami as well as the two successive floods in the recent past. But there is enormous potential for commercial agriculture.”

Furthermore he added that the organised large formal and informal sectors need to create a value chain which includes farmers through official authorities.

By doing so, Sri Lanka will be able to wave good bye to any future fears of food shortages.

Meanwhile the Minister stated that the government is now taking steps to ensure that the process of development is faster. As of last week the state has issued notice that no licensing is needed to tap kithul trees. He believed that this would pave the way for more similar notices. Value addition in industries such as cinnamon is also in the accounts he said.

Ag- Biz exhibitions to attract local farming community through ICT

National Agribusiness Council (NAC) is set to host Ag-Biz exhibition for the sixth consecutive year this August at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Hall. Over 60 industry related stalls covering the varying areas of agriculture such as nursery requirements, fertilisers and chemicals, drips and irrigation, tools, technology, research and development, alternate energy supplies, logistics, landscaping among many others will be covered by local and international bodies.

Parallel to the exhibition NAC will also organise The National Agribusiness and Farmer Awards 2011 recognising the performance and contribution of individual and company tasks to the country.

NAC is also organising a ‘Ag Biz East 2011’ under the theme ‘Re awakening East’ to be held at the Ampara public grounds on 27 and 28 May. This would be the second time for such an event to be held in the East. The previous exhibition was held in Trincomalee, Secretary of NAC Rohith Nanayakkara said. “Over 10,000 farmers participated in the previous exhibition and was encouraged by new technology such as tissue planting,” Nanayakkara said. Ampara is a golden land and is known as the food basin of the country. “Agri is the prime mode of livelihood in the area which has a population of about 610, 719 persons. It is the most desirable location in the Eastern province for such an event,” he said.