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Tuesday Nov 26, 2024
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Efforts were taken to make farmers self-sufficient in agricultural development by the CTC through its Sustainable Agriculture Development Programs (SADP) under the ‘Outreach Projects (Guarantee) Limited’, the CSR arm of the CTC which follows the philosophy of “Helping those who are willing to help themselves”. The SADP programs were initiated in 2005 touching the lives of 16,564 families and over 63,400 beneficiaries across 16 districts. Angunukolapelessa is one of its points in the Hambantota District which benefits under the CTC District SADP.
The Daily FT recently visited Angunukolapelessa and met with several families that benefitted from SADP. The families that are part of the programs have engaged in home gardening and animal husbandry during a period of 30 months, with the objective of improving their livelihoods and nutrition levels, empowering women, encouraging economic independence, enriching the environment, encouraging maximum land utilisation, and ultimately achieving self-sustainability. They have been provided with no cash handouts by the SADP but only necessary knowledge, skills, and supervision to develop home gardens, poultry, animal husbandry, seeds, plants, apiculture and mushroom cultivation. The families were selected for the program after consultations with government officials such as the Divisional Secretaries, Grama Niladhari and Samurdhi Officers.
The CTC has implemented the SADP in Angunukolapelessa under four stages. During first stage, families are taught to put up their own parameter fencing and compost pits. They are also given the knowledge to maintain vegetable and fruit crops and handed plants and seeds to begin their own cultivation. In the second stage, families are additionally introduced to poultry farming, adding eggs which supply protein to their daily meals.
During stage three, families are introduced to goat raring, for milk and other dairy-based products. The families, who successfully complete these stages and are self-sufficient, graduate from the program. During the period the field officers and district officers of the program visit families and ensure the continuity and of their agricultural learning and practices.
Cultivation
The seeds and plants are provided by the SADP. Every home garden has vegetables, fruits, medicinal plants and an animal husbandry section. Chillies, green chillies, brinjals, cabbage, carrot, beetroot, tomato and radish are cultivated in every farm while oranges, pomegranates, bananas and papaw are also grown. Apart from their vegetable and fruit cultivation, they also maintain mushroom cultivation and medicine plants of their own. Under the guidance of SADP many of them are engaged in maize cultivation separate from the home garden. They have also paddy fields that are maintained outside the program.
Dairy production
A family are given three or four goats and 20 hens. The daily egg production in the farm varies between 10 and 12. Through goat raring, they collect around one litre of milk per goat each day. They also engage in apiculture.
Maintaining the farm
The farms are no bigger than half-acre home gardens. So the family members could easily focus their attention on every unit of the farm, including the animal husbandry section. The children in the families also help in farming activities after school. Some families water the plants using pipe water while other families use well water or carry water from streams. They also use certain practices to overcome the problem of dry earth. They plant trees for the conservation of soil and the prevention of soil erosion. To combat evaporation, they use methods like spreading straw over the plantation. ‘Alena Ugula’, ‘Krumi Ugula’, blue water bottles, kohomba mixture, garlic and the Plumeria flower mixture are used as natural insecticides. They don’t use artificial fertilisers but only use compost which they have made using farming refuse. Each farm had around 2x2x2 metre compost pits which fulfil the daily fertiliser needs while reducing wastage. They have used curd pots, paper pots, coconut husks and also bamboo trees to cultivate plants.
Income and other benefits
The farmers in Angunukolapelessa supply their products mainly to the 
Angunukolapelessa market and they have their own market places near the main roads. They earn around Rs. 16,000 - 25,000 monthly from the farm production. But apart from around Rs.3000 for water bills and animal food, they have no maintenance expenditure. The income from the farm covers their family needs and they have a daily income from the maize production as well. One of farmers told the Daily FT that he can sell 400 bushels of maize per day in the shop near the main road. So they have greater disposable income by trading their excess.
They have balanced meals using the organic food cultivated in their own home gardens. The production of milk and eggs supports the essential nutritional needs of each household. The agriculture production supports the quality of health, the level of nutrition of the rural poor and further helps with the eradication of child malnutrition.
The females in houses transfer the knowledge and skills provided by the SADP to other females in the community. The participation of women for the program has decreased the dependency on the male heads of the families. The program gives the adult members of the family the opportunity to be involved in productive activities. It leaves them in a happy, healthy and harmonious atmosphere.
Using technology
They have used tire tube roofs to provide cover for the crops. The tire tubes are tied up in attractive patterns to get shelter for the gardens. Some gardens have eye-catching pots which were also created using tires.
The tomatoes are grown in hanging polythene bags in order to trap the moisture of the plant. The method is called ‘Udu Yatikuru Wagawa’. A new technology called ‘Albert solution’ or ‘hydroponic solution’ has been introduced to cultivate the tomato. This is a system that does not use soil or soil-catering fertilisers but instead grow crops in water-based nutrient 
solutions.
CTC feedback and support
The farmers have good relationships with SADP officers. The field officers and district officers support the farmers in maintaining their farms and gaining knowledge on farming practices. In their meetings farmers can share their problems with the officers. Farmers are provided with plants, seeds and other equipment on time but are not given cash payments. After their graduation, the SADP organise competitions for the farmers and grade their cultivation. Key features including vegetable cultivation, fruit cultivation, apiculture, goat farming, poultry farming, mushroom cultivation, income and farmers participation in SADP are taken into consideration when grading them.
Owner of a half-acre farm S.H. Chandrarathne, who lives with his wife and two children, was a beneficiary of SADP. He also maintains a separate paddy field and maize cultivation. He is a fulltime farmer who visits the main street to sell his maize during the day, and engages in field work during the evenings. His wife and thirteen-year-old daughter help him water the plants, feed the animals and maintain the compost pits. He is also engaged in buying and selling maize to increase his profit. Markets, neighbouring houses or the small wooden shop near the road are some of his targeted buyers. Expressing his ideas to the Daily FT Chandrarathne said that they might have bad experiences without the CTC. Every need of his fifteen-year-old differently abled child who passed away recently, was successfully covered by the income from the farm. With the SADP income they have now upgraded their farm with the installation of a pipe-borne water system. Now his idea is to set up his own shop near the main road to sell his produce. He explained that they have a good market for Ayurvedic medicines which is very beneficial to develop the Ayurvedic planting too.
CTC launched their first SADP program for rural areas in 11 districts in 2005. They expanded their network to SADP PLUS (2009), SADP LITE (2010), SADP MEGA (2011) and SADP ULTRA (2013). Under the district programs SADP covers 801 families in the Hambantota District. According to the CTC reports, average monthly income from SADP home gardens is Rs. 11,327 while Rs. 2432 is earned on average from livestock. The farmers collect an average total income of Rs. 13,759. After adding other income for the household such as occupational income the total monthly average income reaches around Rs. 28,876. So the SADP contribution to total household income is 48% in district programs. CTC told the Daily FT that they have also lined up with the national agricultural projects of Divi Neguma and Api Wawamu Rata Nagamu.
Other stages of SADP
SADP PLUS: An expansion of SADP introduced in 2009, the program comprises of 2,700 farmers selected from the Trincomalee and Kilinochchi Districts.
SADP LITE: Introduced in 2010 to assist 1,500 ex-LTTE combatants (beneficiaries) by imparting agriculture-related vocational training at the request of the Ministry of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms. The program is conducted at the Kandakadu government farm in the Polonnaruwa District. The duration of this program is 12 months.
SADP MEGA: Initiated in Sooriyawewa in 2011, to boost the know-how of agricultural entrepreneurs in the southern region, the project comprises of a 12-acre organic model farm that showcases agri-techniques and best practices.
SADP ULTRA: The project was launched in 2013 to introduce leaf farmers to better crop management techniques and to promote the growing of other field crops. Spread across 7 districts, SADP ULTRA benefited 4,100 individual tobacco farmers and over 16,000 beneficiaries in its inaugural year.
– Pix by Indraratna Balasuriya
