Noticeable resurgence of Jaffna producer

Shirajiv SIRIMANE

Systems should be put in place to protect the Jaffna producer. The middleman should not be given the opportunity to exploit them, said Chairman Ceylon National Chamber of Industries, Newton Wickramasuriya.

Speaking to the 'Sunday Observer' he said that Jaffna producer is slowly but surely awaking and all assistance and guidance should be provided to him. "This is specially evident in the agriculture, dairy and the fisheries sectors," he said.

He said that the Army is doing their part well and this should be followed up with development activities so there is no vacuum created in cleared areas. However he said that the industrial sector would take a longer time to awaken.

"This is because this sector needs big time investments which are yet to come to the North," he said.

Government must look at reopening closed industries like the Kankesanthurai Cement plant, Chunnakam Chemical plant and other similar industries. "Since global technology has developed it would be a good idea to invite foreign companies to resurrect these industries," he said.

During the conflict, farmers were neglected and they have fallen back. "The government research offices should now visit the North and East and should introduce high yielding seed paddy and other agricultural seeds suitable for the climatic condition," he said.

Chairman, Japan-Lanka Industrial Development Center, Nihal Abeysekera said that an 'Export House' concept should be introduced whereby government should provide warehouse facilities, cold storage facilities and allow the Army to transport Jaffna commodities to Colombo thus minimizing post harvest loss.

Administrators should now also think as to what should be done for the security forcers personnel who fought the war with dedication. "Disabled solders could be placed in charge of the 'Export Houses'. Chairman Joint Business Forum, Nimal Perera said that opening of the A9 highway is the key to the development of the North. "This should be followed up by the opening of the rail link and with law and order settling in there would be unprecedented development to the area."

Wickramasuriya was of the view that investors are still adopting a wait and see policy.He said that the Eastern Province infrastructure is getting into place and this should be done to the North as well.

The Director Economic Affairs of the Government peace Secretariat Rohantha Athukorala said that over 33% of the population is below 18 years and more employment opportunities have to be provided by the private sector. "Currently most of the employed are in state institutions, which is not healthy." "Jaffna district is the largest in the Northern province with over 50% of the population engaged in the agricultural sector. The uniqueness of Jaffna is that 92% of the families have their own land hence raising funds through collateral is possible and what is required is a financial instrument that can provide funds at a low level so that development can takes place." Red onions, chilies, potatoes, milk and egg production is the core livelihood opportunities that are pursued. The most popular is red onions with a 10.5% contribution to the national output in the 1990s and fisheries sector employing over 70,000 that at one time contributed almost a 30% to the national requirement. "This is why the private sector must enter the business arena and drive higher productivity driven technology so that there will be a steep change," he said.

Currently the peninsula stacks in 736 MT of tobacco, 131 MT of chillies, and 11,422 MT of red onion per year. However there has been a 54% drop in output of red onions is the cost of 25-year war to the farmers in the peninsula. The current contribution from fish is only a 8.7% to the total requirement of fish which needs to be corrected as in the 1980s there was a 56,000 metric tones of fish that came in from the peninsular where the population is around 550,000.