People left hungry due to half-cooked policies, fallacies: SJB

SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva

SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne 

SJB MP Kabir Hashim 

• Dr. Harsha de Silva says lack of transparency in pricing within trade and marketing sphere often leaves farmers at a disadvantage, benefitting middle men and racketeers
• Assures future SJB Govt. will drive productivity and vitalise agricultural sector within a socio-market economy
• Kabir Hashim alleges Govt. has failed to strengthen agriculture, domestic industry and trade
• Eran Wickramaratne blames Govt. for hurrying the legislature through Parliament without making room for adequate public discourse and debate

By Darshana Abayasingha

The main opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) yesterday charged that the Government’s half-cooked policies have left people hungry amidst unprecedented rise in vegetable prices.

It also said despite high prices of vegetables and supply issues, 45% of produce is still wasted due to the lack of transparency and adequate agricultural policy. 

Addressing the media SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva, noted the high price of produce in the market at present, and attributed the situation to inclement weather, mismanagement and high input costs. De Silva added the lack of transparency in pricing within Sri Lanka’s trade and marketing sphere often leaves farmers at a disadvantage, benefitting middle men and racketeers. 

“When farmers sell their produce directly from fields to supermarkets, there is better returns and a lot less wastage. But when they try to enter the marketplace they get manipulated and fleeced by third parties. Input costs are unsustainable. What we have is a highly ineffective system of agriculture and trade that cannot meet demands,” he stated. 

The SJB MP said a comprehensive agricultural policy program would see enhanced returns to farmers, whilst purchase costs to consumers come down. He stated that a future SJB Government will drive productivity and vitalise the agricultural sector within a socio-market economy. He said the party was already drawing up plans to infuse technology and build knowledge and capacity to drive better transparency, planning and profitability within the sector. This includes the completion of the stalled agricultural produce climate controlled storage facility at Dambulla. 

SJB MP Kabir Hashim, who was at the briefing said the Government must instil better fiscal discipline into the economy, and strengthen micro segments as this was imperative to support wider economic growth. It is the responsibility of the Government to strengthen domestic industry and trade, he stated, but the Government has failed in this endeavour. Hashim said that instead the Government has resorted to cheap imports that further destabilised local producers. 

The MP also said over 13 large scale companies have received tax holidays over the past few years, and the Government lost over Rs. 500 million annually from this measure. He said many foreigners have set up business in Sri Lanka and are depositing money into foreign accounts, incurring no taxes, he charged. 

Colombo District SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne, pointed out the Government is resorting to hurrying the legislature through Parliament, without making room for adequate public discourse and debate. Wickramaratne stressed the Online Safety Bill must not be rushed through Parliament and that it must be discussed further amongst all quarters. He said the SJB was strictly opposed to the current proposals surrounding the online safety bill.

“Sri Lanka needs to be integrated into the rest of the world in every possible way. In that context things like this Online Safety Bill, what are we actually doing? Why are we trying to rush through? You are curtailing the freedom of the people under the premise you are protecting them. This law can be misused in different ways,” Wickramaratne said.