Govt intervention, a must to reduce agro chemical prices

By Gamini Warushamana

Vegetable farmers in Nuwara Eliya urge strong government intervention to reduce agro input prices and they said that a cartel of companies dominate the market.

As agro chemical and seed prices increase, the cost of production of agro products is increasing and profitability of the industry is declining as farmers cannot increase prices of agro products. Prices of agro products are determined by the market and there are frequent fluctuations depending on supply and demand, they said.

A potato farmer in Meepitimana, Nuwara Eliya, N.M. Nihal said that the price of imported seed potatoes is over Rs.12,500 per 50 kg and importers increase prices arbitrarily.The quality of these seed potatoes is not always good and on some occasions the whole cultivation fails due to low quality seed potatoes.

Earlier government seed farms provided quality seeds at low prices. Today government potato seed farms do not function.

Director General of the Department of Agriculture, K.G. Sriyapala acknowledged that there is no government mechanism to regulate agro chemical prices.

He said that the agro chemical price is a debatable issue and one argument is that high prices discourage its use. The concern today is to introduce methods to minimise pesticide use considering the adverse health implications of these chemicals.

“We have an efficient mechanism to regulate agro chemicals released to the market and all chemicals needs to be registered and the registration process is very strict.

However, we don't have a mechanism to regulate prices. This has to be considered if it affects the sector negatively,” he said.Sriyapala said that imported seed potato prices are high. The price of locally produced seed potatoes is around Rs. 5,000 per 50 kg and the Department of Agriculture has launched a program to produce seed potatoes, he said.

Vegetable farming is a profitable venture only if factors such as weather and market conditions remain favourable. Potato farmers said that they could get ten to twenty times of their investment if all conditions remain favourable.

Adverse weather has seriously affected cultivation in Nuwara Eliya in recent years. Last year frost destroyed the cultivation and this year heavy rain has caused crop losses. Unplanned cultivation without information creates oversupply every year, they said.