Marketing, packaging techniques, key to rural prosperity

More effective methodologies with regard to marketing and packaging are the best means of ensuring for the farming community a higher price for their products, said Professor G. L. Peiris, Minister of Export Development and International Trade and Acting Minister of Posts and Telecommunication, in Moneragala.

He was addressing a well attended seminar for farmers and entrepreneurs in the Moneragala area, organized by the Export Development Board.

Prof. Peiris, who commended the farming community for their exceptional commitment to hard work, said that the Government was sparing no pains in implementing a series of initiatives to ensure better market access for the farmers.

The Export Development Board has already achieved success, in many parts of the country, in establishing direct links between farmers and exporting companies.

This is a win-win situation, Minister Peiris observed. The exporting companies are assured, in consequence of these forward contracts, of an uninterrupted supply for a definite period, while the farmers have the assurance of a definite price and are therefore protected against sharp fluctuations in market prices.

This brings about the elimination of unconscionable profits made by middlemen. It will be possible, by these means, to reduce the very significant difference which exists between the farmgate price and the price paid by consumers in cities, said Minister Peiris.

With regard to perishable items like fruits and vegetables, the degree of waste in some cases is as high as 40%, he said. This underlines the need for greater attention to be paid to more sophisticated methods of packaging - an area of industry which has been neglected for a long time, with serious consequences, he said.

Prof. Peiris gave an account of the sustained initiatives by the Government to find new markets. The key to rural prosperity, he commented, lay in value addition.

The concept of the export promotion village, which the Government has vigorously developed in the remoter regions of the country, has brought about enhanced income to farmers, he said.

The accomplishment of this objective has been facilitated by the significantly increased expenditure which the Government has incurred on the development of infrastructure, particularly roads and electricity, in the Moneragala area, he said.

The Government's commitment to improving the quality of life in the Uva Province is exemplified by the building of Uva-Wellassa University at a cost of Rs. 2 billion, he said.

The emphasis in all the courses provided by the University is an addition of value to the country's natural resources, he said.

Officials of the Export Development Board, led by its Chairman, Anil Koswatte, gave a series of presentations on all aspects of production, packaging and marketing, with a view to enabling the farmers to increase their levels of productivity.

Minister of Child Welfare and Women's Affairs, Sumeda Jayasena addressing the gathering, commended Prof. Peiris and the officials of the Export Development Board for making this expertise in a variety of agricultural fields available to the people of Moneragala.