Largest plantation in Kahatawela:

Green leaves enrich and enhance your diet

By Ananda KANNANGARA

Would anybody believe that a bundle of Kan-kun leaves, which is sold at a vegetable stall for Rs. 20, was purchased by a person for Rs. 150? This incident was witnessed even by a police officer who was patrolling the Manning Market, Pettah last week.

A foreign tour group comprising 10 members was walking in the city in the evening with their pet ape, given to them by a snake charmer who was operating near a popular tourist hotel in Kollupitiya. The tour group had stopped at the Manning Market for awhile to buy some bananas for the animal.

The foreigners were not accompanied by a local guide and were not familiar with the prices of bananas.

While the group was choosing ripe fruit, the ape grabbed a bundle of Kan-kun leaves and started munching. The Kan-kun seller did not show any anger over the incident. The foreigner took out her purse and inquired from the trader about the price of Kan-kun. He promptly answered in English, Madam, it is not too much, it costs only Rs. 150. The foreign woman, unaware of the actual price of the Kan-kun bundle, offered two one hundred rupee notes and went away. On seeing the incident , the Police officer advised the trader to refrain from cheating foreigners or anybody else in such a manner.

Largest plantation

This story of the Kan-kun bundle reminded me of my recent visit to a large green leaves cultivation at Kahatawela in the Kalutara district. The Kahatawela green leaves cultivation zone is considered the largest such plantation, comprising over 1,000 acres.

The zone is about 30 kilometres from the town of Kalutara, which needs no introduction to anybody travelling to the South from Colombo, for its huge dagoba is synonymous with the city. Kahatawela is famous for green leaves. Even foreigners on their way Down South visit this village to see the beauty of these large green leaves cultivations. Green leaves are also called `Keera' in Sinhala. According to Agriculture Department statistics, 80 percent of the green leaves supply for people in Colombo and suburban areas are produced by farmers in the Kalutara district.

Reaping Kan-kun A vegetable stall with green leaves

The statistics also reveal that the main green leaves such as Mukunuwenna, Kan-kun, Thampala and Sarana are cultivated in over 1,500 acres in Kahatawela, Anguruwatota and Welmilla in the Kalutara district.

Green leaves or Keera are popular as vegetables among locals, especially those who live in Colombo and suburban areas. Sri Lankan green leaves are also sold in many Middle Eastern countries.

A senior SriLankan Airlines official said it takes only a few hours to send fresh green leaves from Sri Lanka to Dubai. Unlike many other vegetables, there are no English names for green leaves and they are known by their Sinhala names.

High land prices

The Agriculture Department said that green leaves were also cultivated at Nawala in the Colombo district over 100 years ago. Acres of land near the Diyawanna Oya were used by farmers to cultivate popular green leaves such as Mukunuwenna, Kan-kun and Thampala.

The leaves were provided to the residents of Colombo, especially in Bambalapitiya and Kollupitiya. However, with the value of land in these areas going up during the 1970s, these cultivable lands were used to construct housing complexes, business enterprises and industries. People in Nawala even today say that Kan-kun plants could be seen on the banks of the Diyawanna Oya and Nawala lake running up to Wellawatta then.

The Sunday Observer last week visited several green leaves cultivations in the Kalutara district. Among them, the Kahatawela cultivation seemed to be the best and most prominent with over 1,000 acres.

A long-standing cultivator, 60year-old Padmasena Perera said he has been in the green leaves cultivation industry for the past 20 years. I have less than five acres to cultivate green leaves and I enjoy my vocation. I grow several varieties of green leaves such as Mukunuwenna, Kan-kun, Sarana and Thampala and earn about Rs. 20,000 per month.

He said he sells a bundle of Kan-kun or Mukunuwenna for Rs. 12 each while a vegetable seller would earn Rs. 25 from a bundle. He said the little income was sufficient for him to make ends meet with his wife and two sons.

Good harvest

Padmasena said he uses No-1 Keta fertiliser and some urea without which it is difficult to yield a good harvest.

He said over 300 families in the area depend on green leaves cultivations (keera) and hundreds of bare land are still available at Kahatawela. Although these lands are cultivable, the owners who are wealthy people in the area are not properly using them, he said. Padmasena proposed the area Divisional Secretariats to grant such lands on lease to persons who are willing to cultivate them.

He said about four lorry loads of green leaves leave Kahatawela to Colombo everyday. I have heard that our leaves are also exported to foreign countries such as Dubai, Rome and Australia, he said.

He also proposed to the Agriculture Department to start a regular crop collecting system from Kahatawela, so that farmers could sell their harvest straightaway without employing middlemen.

Padmasena also requested the Government to expedite the farmers pension scheme since not a single farmer in his area has so far received a pension as promised by the Agrarian Service several years ago. I hope at least President Mahinda Rajapaksa will listen to our grievances and expedite the pension scheme, he said. He said all farmers in Kahatawela have already paid their monthly contributions to be members of the pension scheme.

A long-standing 72-year-old green leaves farmer K.R. Piyasena said he started cultivating green leaves at the age of 30 and earns about Rs. 40,000 a month from the business.

He said in addition to green leaves , he grows Nivithi (spinach), string beans, dambala, bitter gourd, snake gourd, manioc, yams, cabbage and radish. Piyasena also requested the Agrarian Service authorities to expedite the farmers pension scheme, considering the high cost of living in the country.