Thursday, 19 March 2015 00:09
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AGRICULTURE has returned to the top of the list for policy priorities in Sri Lanka, perhaps because it is a pet subject of President Maithripala Sirisena. This has prompted the Agriculture Ministry to attempt formulating a national plan for the sector. But what should it entail?
The agriculture sector is the cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s economy. With more than 70% of the population living in rural areas depending on agriculture for their livelihoods, this sector contributes to about 18% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 30% of the employment. The agricultural productivity has remained relatively stable, except for rice which has reached near self-sufficiency in the recent years.
However, the growth in this sector has been sluggish. Rapid agricultural productivity growth is fundamental for reducing poverty in Sri Lanka as nearly 90% of the poor live in the rural agricultural economy. Therefore, rapid development in food production while protecting the environment, water resources, and biodiversity needs to be given high priority in the development strategies. This includes removal of existing policy and regulatory constraints which have stifled growth in the agricultural sector.
Fragmented land use, insufficient availability of water, credit, seed, technical know-how, technology, marketing, storage and transportation, poor farming practices continue to weaken productivity in agriculture. Short to medium term priorities include adopting policies to facilitate farmer access to wider markets and improved technologies, creating a stable trade policy regime with required safeguards and developing a regionally equitable infrastructure development strategy for rural development.
With just weeks to go before a general election, it is unlikely that a comprehensive national plan for agriculture will see the light of day before a new cabinet is appointed. By then the focus may have changed. But any government that comes into power has to focus on such a large segment of the population.
In previous years the Government has been content to focus its policies largely on a very expensive and some would argue unsustainable fertiliser subsidy. There was little or no focus on promoting the sector’s productivity by systematically reducing overarching protectionist policies deployed over decades. While the Sirisena administration has also chosen to toe the line on this front, it has insisted on the qualitative increase of products by insisting that harmful chemicals used be reduced. Such a step, if widened and implemented with market incentives, could not only reduce chronic kidney disease but also improve the overall food consumption of Sri Lankans.
The Government aims to promote agricultural production by implementing technically-sound, economically-viable, environmentally-friendly and socially-acceptable programs to promote sustainable agricultural development with efficient and effective utilisation of resources. In doing so it will have to funnel high amounts of resources and ensure that the farmers become regionally competitive. This will also entail reviewing several previous pieces of legislation including the Seed Act proposed by the previous administration.
Agriculture is the heart of a sustainable economy but so far most governments have preferred to look at short term measures and leave out important stakeholders, such as consumers. Any national policy must balance out all these concerns to be even worthy of its name.
