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| Sunday, 10 March 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Rice crisis by PADMA EDIRISINGHE The price of our staple diet, i.e. rice continues to soar skywards day
by day almost going beyond the reach of the average Lankan who It may interest readers to know that the famous Uda Walawe paddy cultivation programs have antecedents going back to 1900 years, that is to the 2nd century AD. In this century reigned King Gajabahu 1 whose famous warrior, Nila Maha Yodaya, who according to legend retrieved 20,000 Sinhala prisoners from the grips of a Chola King (captured during his father's time) and was rewarded with a vast stretch of what is today called the Uda Walawe basin. The Walawe, the fourth longest river in the island that springs into animated watery life in the Horton Plains and cascades down the Haputale-Balangoda-Kaltota escarpments to join the sea at the unpretentious town of Ambalantota, flows through this region. Nila Maha Yodaya pondered on what to do with the vast territory that was gifted to him and decided very altruistically to use it for the common good. He dammed it in two places thus constructing the Yodaya Bamma Giant's Dam) and the Ukgalthota Dam. In fact according to legends of the area it was in Ura Sita Tank that still reposes in sheer hydraulic glory on the Angunakolapelessa-Suriyaweva Road, that the seven headed cobra, surmised to be the state emblem of our ancient hydraulic feats was first sculpted. Gamini Punchihewa's "Vignettes of far off things" carries another poignant legend which is that Neela Maha Yodaya, after all his stupendous work fled the area in frustration. He kept on increasing the paddy field and stacked it to gigantic heights, till one could get onto it and see the distant sea. Finally not nimble enough to climb it himself he sent up his son to view the sea who though he saw it lied due to some youthful whim... The frustrated father believing his son, fled the area in a rage never to return. Meanwhile father time trekked on in his heavy boots and for centuries the Uda Walawe basin went on, still a granary but a languishing granary as Sinhala civilisation continued to decline under the onslaught of foreign invasions. During Portuguese and Dutch times, the forest cover spread on the area like a thick mantle that began to be raised in early British times. Lonard Woolf, that famed writer cum AGA posted to the South tried to change it into a cotton kingdom. Then came sugar cane cropping and even mulberry cultivation. Along with paddy, intensive intercropping began with the cultivation of various cereals as mung, meneri, kurakkan, vegetables both indigenous and alien and also bannana cultivation. During the post-independence period much attention began to rivet on the area. In 1962, the Uda Walawe Project began and work again began in earnest. Then came the Green Revolution with both beneficial and harmful effects trailing it. Paddy yields thrived due to the use of fertilizer and inorganic manure. But catastrophe was a bigger baby almost monstrous in proportion. Just like the flight of Neela Maha Yodaya, 1900 years back, the composure of the average Uda Walawe farmer too has fled today. In fact many are fleeing from the fields themselves and naturally the decrease of the farming population is an obvious cause of the escalating cost of paddy. Just to put the record rather straight, let me give you some statistics from a country report put out by the FAO (Food & Agricultural Organisation). "Rice as our staple food constitutes the single most important crop occupying nearly 29% of the total agricultural land in Sri Lanka and accounts for 25% of the total employment and 12% of the GDP. One point eight (1.8) million farming families are engaged in rice cultivation of Sri Lanka". The report goes on to say that the Government is promoting every effort to increase rice yields with the simultaneous increase in the net returns for farmers. FAO's specific contribution in this venture is its IPM or the Integrated pesticide Program. It works on this project with the collaboration of the Mahaweli Authority and the State sector. Going back it was mentioned that rice farmers are fleeing from the field imitative of that goliath warrior of Gajabahu 1. Cause for the flight of both parties though divided by nearly 2000 years is the destruction of an illusion. The giant had the illusion of the sight of the blue ocean while the farmers had the illusion of high rice yields. The Green Revolution and the proliferation of insecticides whose drums were and are being beat loudly over media, promised them a paradise on earth where a very comfortable life was ensured to them. But what followed? the middle man began playing havoc and fattened his own purse, the accessibility of pesticides led to a spate of suicide by star - crossed lovers, poisoning of the user leading to disabilities and deformities, cattle deaths, death and destruction of bird life, especially of egrets and cranes etc. meanwhile the ads of the multi-national companies selling pesticides went on beating the drums using unpronounceable brand names and their exorbitant prices now have begun to drive away most of the farmers from the fields turning them into rice buyers themselves. One need not label it as a vicious circle anew. it is already one. The FAO with the collaboration of the Mahaweli Authority and the State sector has now begun an earnest venture to combat the evil situation that has finally led to the steep rice of paddy. Its objectives according to FAO expert, Mr. Hector Senarath, are myriad and include. (a) To make farmers partners in rice crop management (b) To reduce as far as possible the use of insecticides (c) Review indigenous techniques of controlling the "Pest" genre (d) Empower farmers to make decisions in crop problems (e) Attract back a vast multitude of farmers leaving the livelihood of rice cultivation (f) Make farming an attractive and lucrative job for the youthful population. Just now the program's main interest is to discourage the use of insecticides that kill the beneficial insects too. It was these creatures labelled "Friends of the farmer", with beautiful names as Lady Beetle who fed on "Enemies of the rice farmer" and maintained a balance. But the highly priced insecticides are killing both the beneficial and harmful species while driving away the non-affluent farmer who cannot afford to buy the insecticides away from the golden mesh of paddy. The farmers are not considered mere pupils in this program but accepted as active participants. The indigenous methods they had inherited from their forefathers are encouraged again that include varied cute methods as the sprinkling of kohomba oil, Pirith water (the farmers believe in the vibration of positive thoughts that percolate via this process), the use of fruits as lime to keep off pests as the goyam flies. The limes in which a dead fly is encased are stuck on fences and poles. The smell of the dead fly is said to keep away the horde. Once a week groups of 20-25 young farmers meet, work on the field in this experimental process, identify the harmful and beneficial insects, then with the aid of stationary supplied by the FAO record their findings embellishing them with illustrations. The program culminates with an animated discussion, refreshments and a small variety entertainment that bring into play varied hidden talents of these young farmers as singing and acting and mimicking. Such activities are today a common sight in the Walawe basin. It may be relevant to mention here that the area was a hotbed of JVP activity at one time with youths turned into murderous fiends. To these young men and women indulging in such positive activity was in itself a pleasurable experience. FAO runs school programs too and the writer was a witness to such a school program in the Kiriibbanweva area. Incidentally in its proximity lies the Ura Sita Wewa that boasts the edifice of the seven-headed cobra, surmised to be the state emblem of our ancient hydraulic works. Perhaps it was installed there nearly 2000 years back. Today around it school uniformed boys and girls of the 21st century indulge in learning farming methods that combine the traditional wisdom of Lanka and new technology. Are they really interested in farming, I asked. (Ninety percent of these children are of parents who have been given crown land of about 2 and half acres to cultivate). Yes, they answered, if the avaricious middleman making exorbitant profits at the expense of the labour of their fathers is driven away and if methods prove successful to increase rice yields that would ensure them a comfortable life. This much significant Integrated Pest Management Program of the FAO is carried out today in most of the rice growing countries of Asia such as India, Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Philippines, Thailand and Laos. |
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has been
feeding on it for more than 2,500 years. Meanwhile silently and steadily,
minus the usual fanfare and trumpet beating, a scheme is being activated
mainly in the Uda Walawe region to explore ways and means to combat this
trend. Of course no miraculous and magical result is expected in a short
time but an intensive beginning has certainly been made.
