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| Sunday, 24 March 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Every drop counts.... by VIMUKTHI FERNANDO
"The last straw, was the jewellery. We had to sell the 'panchayudha' of the children as well", says Keerthi B. Ekanayake, a 49 year-old potato farmer of Keppetipola, Welimada in a trembling voice and moist eyes. Pain lines his face as he explains how their lives were "reduced to a state that of beggars." It was the cost of farming which caused these potato farmers to go begging. There was no yield to compensate. The seed "which yielded an eightfold (8:1) harvest in 1985, was reduced to 1:1 by the end of 90s." Hidden from their eyes was the soil erosion compelling them to use more and more chemical fertilizer if a reasonable harvest was to be gained. They had no-one to turn to. "No agricultural officer had sighted the area for years," says Ekanayake "until the Upper Watershed Management Project (UWMP) officers, started the survey in November 2000." "We joined the project only because it gave us some money. All we wanted was some money to live." The farmers had been suspicious of the UWMP, questioning "Why someone has to pay us for tilling our own soil?" However, what the Project had brought in was a different way of farming.
Farming practices exposed the soil of the central hills to the elements intensifying soil erosion. The farmers were used to uprooting all vegetation and planting the seed in a typical slash-and-burn/chena cultivation pattern. Bare, brown hill tops was a common sight in the region. They could neither stand the rain nor the wind. Nor could they retain any moisture when the sun came out. Priority was the soil conservation. "Officers from UWMP visited plot by plot educating the farmers" on how to do so and it was not difficult for Ekanayake, a farmer with a Bachelors Degree in Sociology, from the University of Peradeniya - to grasp the underlying reasons. Bare slopes were levelled and converted to terraced farmsteads. Grass and other suitable plants were used for hedges. Where necessary, stone hedges and perennials reinforced the structure. No longer did they burn the organic refuse, they were converted to compost and used in the farmsteads. Results were instantaneous. Demand for water decreased dramatically. Plots that needed to be watered once in two days were watered once a week only. Demand for labour and chemical fertiliser descended. And, plants sprouting out looked healthier than those in the previous seasons. "The first season itself yields increased 10:1 and 12:1" says Ekanayake calling the project a blessing. He is all smiles as he takes us around his farmstead. Walking amongst the lush green crop we marvel as he shows us a pit excavated recently. Clean and clear ground water seeping in had created a well already. We believe him as he tells us how the dried out streams in the highlands have sprouted again, giving clean, clear, crystalline water. Not only Ekanayake, many who joined the program have similar stories of their own. W. M. Chandrasekera of Wakkadahinna, Keppetipola a farmer involved in potato farming for 15 years, is elated at the opportunity of cultivating carrot, beetroot, cabbage, lettuce and so on in "Nuwara Eliya style. The income is much better." The harvest he received last season was seven fold for some crops and 15 for potato. H. M. Dhanapala of Mudunpitagama, Keppetipola also received a 12 fold harvest from his potato crop. Tangible results record from the Rantembe reservoir, where about 150,000 tons of soil was collected annually. The records show that the silting has stabilised and the filtering need had reduced by about 30%. By end of 2001, the Upper Watershed Management Project had conserved 5,484 hectares of farmsteads or agricultural land in Badulla, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura districts through farmer involvement, upto end of 2001. The project covers a total of 13,000 hectares of agricultural and non-agricultural land, estate plantations, shrublands, grasslands and natural forest in these areas. Water facts * Every eight seconds, a child dies of a water-related disease * Around one billion people still lack safe water, and more than two billion do not have adequate sanitation facilities. * Adequate access to water is defined as 20 - 40 litres of water per person per day, located within a reasonable distance from the household * Nearly 2.5 million people die annually from diarrhoea diseases, including dysentry * There are 600,000 deaths every year from typhoid fever * 80 per cent of people without adequate sanitation in developing countries live in rural areas. Source: WHO data www.who.int |
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