Farmers and Govt officials hold discussions :

Move to ensure free flow of vegetables

By Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

Excessive dumping of pesticides by farmers on their vegetable crops has become hazardous in recent times, said Nimal Piyatissa the Agricultural Minister of Nuwara Eliya Provincial Council at a workshop organised by the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute.

He said this was quite evident while cabbages are being cooked. the smell and the fumes that emanate from the cooking pot is similar to poisonous pesticides used by farmers. "People in the Nuwara Eliya district area are quite accustomed to pesticides used in their farmlands.

It is a known fact that farmers spray an awful lot of pesticides on cabbage from the time they are planted until they are harvested."

Mafia

The Minister then launched a scathing attack on the Mafia responsible for importing poisonous pesticides to the country.

"We have to organise ourselves to prevent the importation of such hazardous pesticides to the country."

The Minister said potatoes were cultivated during two seasons at Nuwara Eliya and Uva Paranagama-Welimada.

The Nuwara Eliya season was quite different from the Welimade season. Unfortunately when potatoes were imported into the country during those harvesting seasons it affects the price of locally grown potatoes.

He said considering the fertility of soil and the rich bio-diversity of the Central Province there was room to grow more vegetables and fruits in the Central Province. "Even crops that grow in the dry zone grow well in the Central Province although Nuwara Eliya alone is enveloped in cold weather.

Referring to the Agricultural Ministry portfolio, the Minister said it was the most important portfolio in the Nuwara Eliya Provincial Council.

That was because Nuwara-Eliya was the bread basket of Sri Lanka.

Vegetables and other major crops are grown on a large-scale than any other place in the country.

Last week several media personnel travelled to a farm at Ruwan Eliya, Magoda, a few kilometres away from the Nuwara Eliya town.

The farmland during the colonial times were known as the Elk Lane. Herds of Elk are still known to roam in this territory.

We met the Chairman of the Dimuthu Govi Organisation W.A. Mettananda a retired Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) of the Sri Lanka Army who took to farming in a big way after his retirement. Patches of lush cabbage, beetroot, carrots, leaks were seen in his farmland.

He said it was profitable to earn more by cultivating potatoes than by growing vegetables.

"Unlike potatoes, vegetables do not fetch a good price. However when one crop was harvested other crops were planted to avoid losses." he said.

He said farmers in the Nuwara Eliya face constraints when it comes to purchasing seeds issued by the State.

"We do not receive seeds from the State. So we have to purchase them from multi-national companies at exorbitant prices.

Cabbage seeds

A 10 milligram sachet of cabbage seeds cost Rs. 950 and a 400 milligram tin of carrot seeds cost Rs. 1,500. The price of a 100 milligram tin of leek seeds is Rs. 1,200-1,300.

We have to purchase them by paying cash on the spot. If we purchase them on credit basis we have to pay Rs.1,700." he said.

Mettananda is of the opinion that multi-national companies are in a position to dictate the price to farmers because they import and distribute seeds. "Farmers have no voice whatsoever in these matters.

Our organisation has brought this to the notice of Provincial Council to seek relief to farmers by importing seeds. But nothing has happened so far." he said. According to Mettananda the quality of imported seeds has deteriorated over the years.

"Most seeds do not germinate and cause losses to the farmers.

It is a dilemma faced by farmers. last year private companies imported potatoes seeds worth Rs. 110 millions but most seeds perished in a warehouse. Mettananda has made an earnest appeal to the Government to provide seeds to the farming community.

When questioned on the usage of chemical fertiliser, Mettananda admitted that he uses organic fertiliser on the advice of the Research Institute at Seetha Eliya.

Nevertheless he admitted using chemical fertiliser on his crops. Mettananda says that it was necessary to use chemical fertiliser in Nuwara Eliya district owing to mist formation in the atmosphere.

Crops become vulnerable to the mist and has to be salvaged by using chemical fertiliser on them," he said. Asked whether his family prefers vegetables grown in his land he said they all prefer vegetables such as Kohiladalu and Thibbatu that grow in other parts of the country.

Mettananda said vegetables grown in the Nuwara Eliya district are priced by merchants themselves. Although there was an economic centre in was not feasible for farmers in the Nuwara Eliya district to take their produce to the economic centre due to various constraints.

Instead the produce is sold to merchants directly who call over at their farms, thus making the task easy for them. "We generally have an idea about the fluctuating prices of vegetables in the market.

We gather information from newspapers etc. Qualitywise, potatoes grown in Nuwara Eliya and Seetha Eliya were far superior to those grown elsewhere in the country. The potatoes are uprooted every three months." he said.

Meanwhile the Dimuthu Govi Organisation President has made an appeal to the Government to bridge the gap between buyer and the seller to lower the price of vegetables in the market.

He praised the Minister for interacting with farmers and for providing relief to them.

Asked whether the Supermarket chains purchase their produce, Mettananda said they purchase a limited quantity of unspoilt vegetables from them. The bulk of the slightly spoilt vegetables have to be discarded then, he said.

In the meantime the Government has provided fertiliser at a subsidised rate to farmers who make a profit when they sell a kilogram of cabbage for Rs.50. However when they sell it for Rs. 30 they barely make a profit.

Farmers also grow flowers in Nuwara Eliya on a smaller scale to make ends meet.

However the big-time exporters of flowers have now begun selling them to the local market following the tsunami disaster in Japan.

"The export market has collapsed totally," a farmer said.

Navaratne Hettiarachchi, a farmer who organised a Co-Operative for vegetable and potato farmers in Nuwara Eliya said that he was the person who harvested the highest yield of potatoes in 1989.

But the winds of change began to sweep over the country in 1994. Due to the open economy policy of the government, potatoes imports began to flood the market bringing down the price of locally grown potatoes.

The local farmers had to face a crisis situation due to liberalisation of imports. Potato farmers in seven electorates of Nuwara Eliya and Badulla had to abandon their cultivation.

Potato cultivation

Prior to importation of potatoes almost 12,000 hectares were cultivated in the region. But in 1999 only 168 hectares were cultivated.

Chilly farmers in the Rajarata district and Onion farmers in Dambulla district were also severely affected. But when farmers voiced their complaints to the authorities it just fell on deaf ears. The official attitude was totally different.

Their position was that cheaper goods had to be imported to feed the entire population of the country.

Hettiarachchi has an axe to grind with the authorities. He says there was no point in farming while imports are allowed into the country.

He says he had to sell off his property to eke out a living.

Although there was an element of truth in what he says the Free Trade Agreements signed between countries allow the free flow of goods with minimum tariff slapped on them.

The Deputy Director (Research) of Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute (HARTI) Dr. L.P. Rupasena said when overloaded lorries arrive at the Manning Market in Colombo from distant places like Nuwara Eliya a portion of the cargo has already perished.

Estimates show that around 600 lorries arrive at the Manning Market daily. In addition around 600 trishaws arrive in Colombo to remove vegetables to suburban markets.

According to Dr. Rupasena around 800 lorries arrived at the Manning Market a few years back bringing vegetables and other commodities.

A survey conducted by the HARTI have shown that Manning Market survey conducted by the HARTI have shown that Manning Market was closely lined to traders who operated from the Pettah area and shifting of the Manning Market elsewhere was not feasible.

According to Professor Sunanda Mahendra the media plays an important role in disseminating information with regard to agricultural produce.

But media personnel were not familiar with issues relating to farmers.

He said earlier broadcasting programmes were called farm broadcasting, but now they were known as Agri broadcasting programmes.

The need had arisen today for journalists to publish more articles relating to farmers.

Director, Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute of (HARTI) Lalith Kantha Jayasekera, Dr. M.S. Senanayake (HARTI), Attorney-at-Law Prasanne Sanjeewa Fonseka, Provincial Council Member Wimale Karunaratne, Amal Nanayakkara of Aitken Spense, J.K.M.D. Chandrasiri and Pujitha de Mel of HARTI, S.A.C.U. Senanayake of HARTI and Watsala Gamage of HARTI participated at the Workshop.