Recommendations for urgent action from agripreneurial community to mitigate impending food crisis

 

 

There are constant dire warnings of impending food shortages citing many causes and blames on past actions. While it is useful and wise to be forewarned, the warnings alone will not avert the possible shortages. What is required is for those able and willing to engage in cultivation and other relevant activities, as best as possible using the available and deployable resources, instead of just lamenting and demanding inputs that may never come.

 

In this regard, we wish to emphasise and expand on the short-term solutions that we proposed in our press release dated 13/04/2022 and also presented to the relevant officers of the state.

 

It is also important to note that the relevance and need to also strategise and implement the long-term solutions, spelled out therein still remain valid. Therefore, in addition to the short-term activities, the creation of the pathway for the realisation of the long-term goals, is therefore essential, with due care to ensure that the short-term decisions and actions in no way obstruct that pathway. 

 

The supply of chemical fertilisers and pesticides to meet even the original recommended levels of usage is now unlikely, both due to the costs, shortage of dollars and reduced supplies in the world market. The only positive signal is the offer of 65,000 tonnes of urea from India. As such, it is time to set aside the many arguments against the original ban and consider the optimal usage of these limited supplies, which hopefully can be available in time for the current Yala season.  

 

In this context, we wish to highlight three inescapable issues.

a) There are reports from the Agriculture Department, on research conducted over many years, that a suitable mix of chemical and organic fertilisers would give rise to an enhanced yield of over 20 percent compared with the yield from the use of only chemical fertiliser. This research is based on soil types and is crop-based. Hence, the Agriculture Department should develop a set of recommendations and make them immediately available to the agriculture sector. Thus, the limited quantities of chemical fertiliser that are available should be issued only to those who practice this methodology.

 

b) Since the original ban on chemical fertiliser came into effect, many farmers and entrepreneurs opted to, both manufacture and utilise non-chemical natural fertilisers. Many such successes have been reported in the media. Urgent action is required by the Agriculture Department to verify these claims and support and expand these practices widely as the official recommendation, if proven accurate and valid.  Considering the urgency of the situation and possible most positive impact, these must be done immediately, if not already done.

c) The introduction and proliferation of the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides is a historically recent event. While these may have made a positive impact, the recent market upheavals and the long-term negative impacts of near-total dependence on external sources impacting the national food security must be recognised. Therefore, it is wise to embrace this opportunity given to implement alternatives that everyone agrees are a better approach, if implemented intelligently. The present shortages of both fertiliser and foreign exchange push Sri Lanka to come up with a much faster change over to the alternatives, even accepting the much-talked-about drop in the yield. Other means of covering the drop need to be adopted like cultivating abandoned and underutilised and unused arable lands and reducing post-harvest losses. 

 

 

Access to fertiliser and alternatives

I. It is urgent to ensure that whatever the natural or organic fertilisers produced conform to acceptable standards, in order that they perform as claimed. The fertiliser secretariat alone may not be able to do this as a nationwide exercise and therefore, suitable distributed state agencies must be enrolled to perform this function. Such certification could be made mandatory for sale to the public. 

 

II. There are specific intensive agricultural enterprises, including protected agriculture, which are designed for the use of specialised chemical fertilisers and pesticides. They should be permitted to use part of their foreign exchange earnings to import such specialty fertilisers. A system needs to be set in place, so that this section collectively or via the registered importers could utilise this facility, if not already in place. The National Fertiliser Secretariat should grant temporary approvals to those direct users or others with foreign exchange balances to import such fertilisers while adhering to the processes laid down by the secretariat.

 

 

III. The unstructured and politically motivated system of subsidies has been a bane of the country not limited to agriculture. Hence, this practice should not be reintroduced as presently being discussed and reported in the media, offering false hopes to the farmers and discouraging them from commencing cultivations using available resources. Any sector or individual believing and insisting on the use of chemical fertiliser should be ready to pay the proper market price. It would be morally wrong to offer such subsidies, which are funded by the general treasury and the burden of which is also shared by those who have opted to find ways and means of becoming self-sufficient, not depending on imports. 

 

IV. The purchase price of major food commodities such as paddy, corn and pulses must reflect the true cost of production without any subsidies. Therefore, those who have had the courage to opt for less expensive alternatives would be more encouraged. 

 

V. Mandatory reporting of paddy and rice stocks held by the operating oligarchy of the large rice millers, which has manipulated the market with impunity and the system of price control in total disarray and the consumer protection agencies being sidelined. Non-compliance with such regulations is to be strictly dealt with as a deterrent.

 

 

VI. The essential safety net that should be in place for the segment of society highly deserving support cannot be served by general subsidies. Alternative means as a properly managed and monitored Samurdhi system, once more not politically manipulated, should be utilised for this.  This does not require any foreign exchange.

 

VII. An urgent programme is needed to discourage the present attitudes of a major proportion of the population of expecting handouts and all manner of services to be given by the state. The state should only be a facilitator and enabler to provide fair access to necessary inputs and services. All media, public and private, should be enrolled to implement this paradigm shift, which would make all of us look for opportunities instead of handouts, which in reality, continue to keep Sri Lanka a beggar nation. 

 

VIII. The time available to avert any possible food shortages by continuing the past practices is fast running out. As such, the encouragement of home gardening, which has proven its value in the past, must be highly encouraged. What is needed is more than easy access to seeds and planting material. The promotional propaganda, which is not yet seen adequately, needs major enhancement and should be practically demonstrated by those who preach. 

 

 

IX. The continuing lament against the ban on chemical fertiliser has been the dire prediction of the loss of harvest yield. While this may be true, the extent of such loss is yet to be published officially. It would be useful to publicise such official statistics early to be able to reach firm decisions on the degree of the problem and strategise any corrective actions.

X. It is essential to recognise that in addition to feeding the nation, non-traditional agriculture too has a great potential to be a major earner of foreign exchange, particularly by way of value-added products to meet the standards of the world markets. While the appreciable contribution of this effort may be realised in the medium term, immediate steps are needed to recognise and encourage and iron out any procedural and policy obstacles. Immediate identification of high-potential high-value addition crops and an action plan already recommended by the Sri Lanka Agripreneurs’ Forum (SLAF) must be immediately implemented. The SLAF has already commenced work via a multi-stakeholder team to develop the Jak Fruit Value Chain.

 

XI. While the possible reduction of yield, due to a shortage of chemical fertiliser, is discussed at length, other factors, which have the same impact such as lack of adherence to GAP, post-harvest losses and often publicised wastes, due to lack of marketing opportunities, have not received any significant attention. Even partial alleviation of these unnecessary losses can be the means of offsetting the reduction of the expected loss of yield. Some measures, which can be implemented in the short term, are proposed.

 

a. Reintroduction of the proper packaging systems for the transport of fruits and vegetables, which was tried and abandoned.

b. Completion of the Cold Store Complex in Dambulla and instituting a reliable management structure with the participation of stakeholder farmers and selected private companies with the requisite operational and management expertise on such facilities, with the required state involvement for regulation.

 

c. Utilising the storage facilities at the locations such as the Veyangoda Complex, where more durable products can be stored for longer periods of time, thus regulating the volatility of the markets and reducing post-harvest losses.

 

 

With the possibility of the food security being severely impacted, to a level hitherto unprecedented, the steps needed to even partially alleviate such severity would naturally require drastic and urgent actions. The implementation of the above actions is therefore urgent and imperative. While the participation and contribution of a wide spectrum of stakeholders, both in the state and private sectors and individual farmers, are needed, The Sri Lanka Agripreneurs Forum is committed to providing its full support and assistance in achieving this objective.