|
|
 |
  |
| Sunday, 26 September 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
National Policy for plantation sector - Minister By Hiran H.Senewiratne
The Minister of Plantation Industries Anura Priyadarshana Yapa in an interview with the 'Sunday Observer' said that the plantation sector should have have a national policy to sustain in the future. He said that tea, rubber and coconut plantations should be promoted not only in traditional areas but also in non-traditional areas as well.Here are excerpts from his interview. Q. What are the main problems encountered by the Plantation industry? A. I have been assigned to look after four main crops in the plantation sector. One is traditional crops like tea, rubber and coconut and a non-traditional crop like the sugar cane. We do not have a national policy for these crops. What we have noticed in this scenario is that since prices are good for tea, rubber and coconut we need to plan carefully on the future of the sector,if not it is going to be bleak. Specially in the tea sector replanting is done at a very slow space.The soil erosion and non availability of estates are some of the major issues we have to be addressed with immediate effect. The rubber prices are currently good but most of the plantations are either 50 years old or more. We have to expedite the re-planting programs.Now we are imposing the Cess for the rubber sector. The coconut industry is concerned with some regional plantation companies and are not looking after those properties properly. The government will give priority to sugarcane as well. Q. Do you think that the privatisation process of the plantation sector made a positive impact towards the entire sector? A. History bears the testimony that the successive governments were not very much successful in managing the plantation sector ie- during the pre privatisation era before 90's. I think it would have been a wise move, if the privatisation was done in a proper way by the then government.The privatisation program, it has created 23 clusters, which were very large and unable to manage Regional Plantation Companies. However, we are going to adopt a policy towards this sector to get the participation of private sector,small players in the industry and the government, for crop diversifications, use those places as eco- friendly places and also grant gemming rights for certain estates. Q. Is the government going to dispose its existing estates that belong to the Sri Lanka State Plantation Corporation (SLSPC) and Janatha Estate Development Board (JEDB)? A. These two entities are dead-ridden organisations. The SLSPC has not paid ETF, EPF and the Gratuity to their workers. During the last government two estates namely Hairpark and Waithalawa were given to a private individual consisting of 2000 hectares arbitaraly.JEDB has also leased out some of their prime properties to other private parties. Currently both organisations are in bad shape.When we tookover these two entities, we cut down all unnecessary expenditure and are now trying to revive these organisations.We hope to pay outstanding of the EPF,ETF and gratuity payment to the workers based on the present assets ofthe two organisations. Q. What are the steps has the government taken to improve the tea smallholder position? A. We have identified all the problems encountered by the three main crops.We have started the 'Kapruka' program for coconut,the 'Thuru Saviya' program for rubber, which is now working on the replanting programs.The 'Thee Shakthi'for tea, which is now in full swing.Nearly 12 tea factories will be improved with this fund. Q. The government does not have a proper mechanism to control the import of tea for blending with local tea for re-export. How are you going to tackle this problem? A. Sri Lanka has earned an international reputation for tea in the world. The Tea Board and the Tea Commission are closely monitoring this issue.The current problem we face is that substandard teas such as dust are entering the market and we have imposed strict measures stop it .If we do not maintain high standards, I don't think we can sustain on the long run. Q. There was a proposal during the time of the previous government to hold the tea auctions in dollars.Do you have any idea to popularise this concept? A. No.If we introduce this system, we will not be able to maintain a uniformity at the auction.This will mainly affect the small dealers. Q. How do you intend to curb the problem of adulterated tea being sold in the local market? A. Well, the Tea Commission Department is taking all steps to prevent the problem. At present the Commission is educating the public on this subject.This mainly depends on the buying power of the purchaser.Now the JEDB is marketing 'Jana Tea' high quality tea to the market at an affordable price. Q. How do you intend to tackle the problem of fragmentation of coconut lands in the coconut triangle and any legislation that the government intend to pass against this move in the near future? A. We have taken two steps.One is to amend the existing law ie- Tea and Rubber Estate Fragmentation Act, to include coconut sector into it. With the amendment, the coconut lands which are more than 10 acres will not be permited for fragmentation for any purpose. We have also instructed the Coconut Cultivation Board, not to give authorisation for fragmentation .The North Western Provincial Council,area where I am representing have passed a legislation against the fragmentation of plantation lands. According to the solution areas that have been marked for plantations cannot be fragmented even by land owners. We believe that lands belong to the government. It could sanction if anybody block out or fragment lands in those areas. Q. The coconut industry was the second highest income earner among the planation crop exports but in the last few years its earnings have dropped drastically. How do you intend reviving the coconut industry? A. To revive the industry the government must render a lot of assistance.Therefore we will have to give fertilise at subsidised rates for this sector continuously.The 'Kapruka' program will help the industry in a big way. Q. What does the Ministry intend doing to increase coconut production in non traditional areas, like the Mahaweli zone where the productivity is higher than in other areas? A. The Dissicated Coconut (DC) Millers Association started a program to cultivate coconut in the Mahaweli areas.We have encouraged the private sector to cultivate them in Mahaweli areas.First we have to put all our efforts to traditional areas. We have to start re-plantation in traditional areas in a more systematic manner where most of trees have been destroyed due to the drought specially in the coconut triangle. Q. Coconut prices have fluctuated widely in recent time.Whether coconut growers expect a remunerative price for their crops,while Consumers expect a reasonable price for their nuts.How do you intend maintaining a healthy balance between these two conflicting expectations? A. At the moment coconut prices are high. We need more coconut for DC oil industry and the domestic market.Therefore we need to increase the coconut production.At present production is going down.The only alternative is to increase the production. This could be done by increasing the replantation programs, increasing the drought resistance varieties as a longterm plan.Therefore to maintain a healthy balance. We have to increase the production. Q. What steps do you plan to take to improve the DC industry? A. Only solution would be to increase the coconut production to have more nuts for the DC industry. Out of 90 DC mills more than 60 have been modified and also we hope to give more assistance to this industry in the future. Q. Do you have any mechanism to facilitate coconut exports in the country? A. Yes, we work in cordination with the the Ports Authority to facilitate the sector. Q. Rubber Cluster has developed a brand for rubber called lankaprene what is its position? A. This is a very good idea we are helping the Rubber Cluster to move forward this major brand promotional program. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
