The necessity for food and nutrition security in Sri Lanka

By Rashika Fazali

The Ministry of Agriculture and CIC Agri Business jointly took the initiative to organise a national conference for the first time themed ‘National Food and Nutrition Security – Challenges and Opportunities for Sri Lanka,’ in commemoration of World Food Day which fell on 16 October.

The conference was held at Water’s Edge yesterday to debate, discuss and provide solutions on making Sri Lanka’s food nutrition secure. The Chief Guest at the event was Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa.

Poverty is a rising issue. It is estimated that rising food prices have pushed 44 million people across the world into extreme poverty. A further billion people go hungry each day due to limited access or resources to secure food supplies.

Speaking on the necessity of food security, CIC Holdings PLC Chairman, B.R.L. Fernando stated, “We need to aim at self-sufficiency. There is a yearly surpass of a million tons of paddy.”

Speaking on other problematic areas, Fernando added that the fertiliser subsidy is a big problem. “There is a lot of waste and pollution,” he noted. “Five tons are priced at US$ 4,000. How can a farmer make a profit? No wonder the farmers are moving away from farming. We can’t blame them.”

He went on to say, “Compared to us, the Indian cost of production is low. If we follow the market, we should not be growing paddy at all, but we do. We should also look at how we can protect our agriculture subsidiaries.”

“We have cultivated 1,400 areas of land. Much more land equals to much more crops which mean we should be able to produce good quality seeds. He explained that to do so, the country will have to restructure organisations and the Ministry’s focus. “20 per cent of the food is lost due to transportation issues. If this issue can be addressed, crops will not be wasted.” He recommended that the Ministry look into the cultivation of different crops, citing Bandarawela as an area that is good for food cultivation. “If we can cultivate more crops, we will be able to cut down on our food prices.”

Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Secretary P.B. Jayasundera delivering the keynote address, stated, “The agriculture, livestock and fisheries ministries are contributing heavily to the economy. 30 years ago, Sri Lanka was a poor country. One quarter of the country did not have an adequate food supply. China and India were also poor countries. Our per capita income was higher than China’s. We are not a poor country anymore.”

He added: “India, China and Brazil, I would say are more influential than the so-called G8.”

Jayasundera noted that with rising populations, larger quantities of food are now required.

“People are demanding food – affordable food. The world is still not free of poverty. Most people can’t have food as they can’t afford it and certainly do not understand quality and nutrition,” Jayasundera observed.

“This is also Sri Lanka’s dilemma. Everyone is demanding cheaper food, but food here is cheap compared to other markets.”

In order to be able to grow more food, he stressed on the need for more backyard cultivation. “We should have 100,000 backyard agriculturists in Sri Lanka where we can also grow quality seeds. We can have our own seeds.”

Addressing the issue of the fertiliser subsidy, he stated that it is not an easy problem to solve. “We need a vast amount of money. We spend Rs. 50 billion, that’s just one per cent of the GDP, on fertilisers but at the same time, fertilisers produce results. One million farmers however, need incentives – not in taxable incomes.”

Speaking further on this matter, he said: “People know fertilisers involve science. The use of organic fertilisers is growing very rapidly. The Government is now making an effort to provide organic and affordable fertilisers.”

He also noted that Sri Lanka does not need to target top markets but could instead aim for the starving markets. “Sri Lanka can grow food like rice, fruits, vegetables and sugar once we can cultivate them properly. We have been importers of such foods.”