Water mismanagement worsens farmer plight

By Ashwin Hemmathagama Our Lobby Correspondent

Incompetency in water management has aggravated farmer’s problems during the recent drought where crops failed incurring heavy losses, lamented UNP MP and Economist Dr. Harsha de Silva who sighted the move to impose taxes to discourage exports as “a futile measure in the long-run.”

“In 2003 Sri Lanka reached self-sufficiency with 200,000 MT excess stocks of rice. This was the period the peace treaty was signed, enabling the farmers to go back to their paddy fields. Today, things have changed drastically. Government should not blame the weather. Huge tanks such as ParakramaSamudraya, which had the capabilities to provide water for almost 19,000 acres of paddy fields is more like a desert. It is the Government’s fault for not being able to manage the water. The measure that needs to be taken is not discontinuing the rice exports but explore the possibility to export more in different forms and types, which will bring in more foreign revenue to the country. The message we should give is ‘increase our exports’. Look at our export statistics. The exports have come down by 6 per cent in May this year and the imports have increased by 8 per cent. Between January – May the trade deficit has crashed by 25 per cent. In the month of January the apparel income was US$ 367 million. This has come down to US$341 million, US$319 million, US$295 million, and US$278 million in February, March, April, and May consecutively. We have borrowed US$930 million from commercial banks during the past five months to bridge the trade gap. The exchange rate which was at Rs. 109 per US$ has gone up to Rs. 134. The solution is to develop an agricultural export system rather than having a vegetable garden in your back yard according to ‘Divinaguma’ or to export cucumber,” said Dr. de Silva.

Minister of National Languages and Social Integration Vasudeva Nanayakkara who moved the regulations under the Import and export (Control) Act said: “There is serious drought experienced in many parts of the world. Government has started to control rice exports as a preparation to face this situation. Only special rice varieties will be allowed to be exported using a special permit. This is the first time Sri Lanka became self-sufficient in rice. Farmers receive a net profit of Rs.7.51 per rice Kg.”