Plaster solutions in crates

Tuesday, 13 December 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

POLICIES are difficult things to implement as they are double-edged and often in the attempt to fix one problem, another is caused or aggravated. The Government’s decision to make plastic crates mandatory seems to have done this perfectly.

On Monday the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) detained over 40 lorries of vegetables reaching the Pettah market as they did not use plastic crates that had been decreed by the Government. Ostensibly, this step was taken by the Trade Ministry to reduce post-harvest wastage, of which Sri Lanka has a very high level. It is estimated that in Sri Lanka as much as 40 per cent of the harvest is lost due to improper transport mechanisms. Therefore, since the late 1990s, there has been a lobby urging the Government to make plastic crates mandatory for the transportation of vegetables and fruit.

Straightforward logic would tell one that if wastage is reduced then food prices would decrease, but little in this world works in such a direct manner. What happens in reality is that farmers have to spend extra to buy the crates, resulting in this burden being passed on to the end consumer, resulting in prices increasing. Moreover, it is a well-known fact that the middlemen controlling transportation ensure that vegetable prices stay at a level profitable for them, especially with the festive season on the horizon, culminating in a complicated situation where prices increase instead of quality products entering the market.

Moreover, the Government cannot use the stale trick of artificially repressing prices only to release them once the New Year dawns, to put more pressure on consumers.

Introduction of plastic crates would have been a good move had the Government taken into account several other requests that have been pending before them for a long time. One dire need is to build infrastructure to connect the different economic centres such as Dambulla to Colombo so that there is a cost effective mode of transportation. Railway has been suggested time and again for this so that farmers have an alternative and efficient way to send their goods to market. If transport costs are reduced and the monopoly of the middlemen is broken, then there is more chance for prices to reduce.

Another less expensive method would be to build cool rooms and storage facilities in the economic centres so that thousands of kilos of vegetables and fruits that are dumped on a daily basis can be stored and transported to Colombo and other urbanised areas for consumption. In a country where food prices are a growing problem and many people find it hard to make ends meet, it is a shame to waste.

If there is an effective way to support the market to keep prices stable and increase the income of farmers in the process, then consumers too would benefit in a more sustainable and practical way rather than merely introducing plastic crates. If these larger and more important problems were solved, then the usage of plastic crates would make sense. However, as things are, it seems, at least at first glance, to be another ‘plaster’ solution to a very important problem.