Private-public partnerships vital to boost agri exports

by Lalin Fernandopulle

Agricultural research has got a fresh boost with growing interest for more private-public cooperation to boost agricultural output, rural income and food security.

Private sector organisations work with universities and research institutions to enhance non traditional crop exports to develop a vibrant agricultural industry and ensure food security in the country.

The International Food Company (IFCO) and the Universities of Ruhuna and Uva Wellasa have embarked on a series of research programs to promote and develop non traditional agricultural exports through soil, seed and irrigation development.

IFCO Chairman and Advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture, Sarath de Silva said that vast progress has been made on research initiatives launched with universities to enhance the yield, effective use of water through dip irrigation, waste water management, use of sunlight to enhance production, crop and soil development.

He said that agricultural research is essential to boost productivity, profitability and sustainability of the agriculture sector. Economically viable, environmentally sound and socially acceptable agricultural research will assure the national food security and development of the agricultural industry.

The need for a national agricultural research policy in Sri Lanka has been a long-felt need for uniformity in decision-making in agricultural research to achieve the long-term goals of the sustainable agricultural development of the country.

"There is a big market for Sri Lanka's non traditional export crops in the region. We should make good use of the Free Trade Agreement with countries in the region to boost exports," de Silva said.

Sri Lanka exports fresh and processed fruits and vegetables to the Maldives and the Middle East. The income from exporting fresh and process fruits and vegetables has been around Rs. 3,000 million. The target for this year is Rs. 4,000 million.

De Silva said the lack of production per plant and per acre have been a major drawback to boost exports.

The private public partnerships in agricultural research are vital to develop a vibrant agricultural sector, to enhance agricultural production and reduce rural poverty.

Experts said that conventional approaches to research extension and education are challenged by rapid changes in scientific and technological innovations.

Food insecurity

They said cooperation between private and public organisations and civil societies are important to reduce poverty and promote food insecurity in the country. Result-oriented interactions help enhance efficiency and effectiveness of research and education services, enhancing access to new products and services that focuses on enhancing the income of farmers.

It also helps promote pro-poor innovative activity in the food and agricultural sector.

Studies have revealed that public sector organisations in Brazil, India, Kenya, Mexico, and South Africa rely on cooperation with the private sector and civil society to boost innovative capacity and respond to the needs of the rural poor. It comprises public-private partnerships, knowledge exchange networks, research consortia, technology joint ventures, public-private-non-governmental extension services, hybrid organisations, and other partnership-based approaches.

Agricultural research has also revealed that questions still remain on how to make the best of use these collaborative ventures and how partnerships facilitate innovative behaviour, how they reduce the costs of innovation, and how they help public, private and civil society organisations reach out to marginalised sectors are some of the issues that need to be addressed.

De Silva said that interaction with universities in South India, Malaysia and Thailand had shown the importance of private public collaborations to develop agriculture, boost exports and enhance food security in the country.

The results of private public collaborations will yield thrice the amount that is spent on research which proves that the return on investments on research is high.

He said that the Uva Wellasa University was invited to join in the perennial crop horticulture on a 250-acre farm in Badulla. "We have commenced bee-keeping, wormy-culture and growing 100,000 soursop plants and plans are afoot to go for animal husbandry.

"We have invited the Wayamba University to work at the Padeniya farm where the Deduruoya project will provide water for 1,000 acres of cultivation. We also plan to move to the North and the East. All these joint venture research initiatives will help achieve the export target of US$20 billion by 2020," de Silva said.

Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture Ruhuna University Prof. S. Subasinghe said that the joint project between the University of Ruhuna and IFCO (Pvt) Ltd. has yielded results in developing non traditional export crops. Around 20 acres of land of the University of Ruhuna has been allocated to IFCO to be developed as a research farm for export crops such as banana, pineapple, dragon fruits and vegetables such such as snakegourd, luffa, bittergourd, tomato and okra.

Research

He said the the university helps to develop technology through research by undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff of the University. University students and staff can use the facilities of this research farm for their research. IFCO will provide all the assistance in this regard.

The research farm produces lot of fruits and vegetables mainly for export markets. At the same time they plan to purchase fruits and vegetables from the farmers around the research farm. It also planns to develop links with farmers around Kamburupitiya where the farm is situated.Selected farmers will be provided all inputs (planting materials selected fruit or vegetables or both, fertiliser and agro-chemicals).

The research farm mainly focuses on organically grown fruits and vegetable or minimum use of agro-chemicals, technical know-how and buy back agreements. New knowledge developed by the students and staff research will be disseminated to the farming community. All these activities will help boost agricultural production and export volumes.

Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Uva Wellasa, Dr. G. Chandrasena said that the research project between the university and IFCO is a useful venture as it provides field training to students and enhances research. Plans are afoot to send the first batch of students to Paldeniya, Badulla.

"We hope to boost non traditional export crops and train undergraduates to be entrepreneurs," he said.