Sri Lanka commences maize exports

An agricultural landmark:

Already self-sufficient in maize :

By Shirajiv Sirimane

Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa was the chief guest at the ceremony to mark the export of a shipment of 10,000 metric tones of maize for the first time in Sri Lanka. Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene is also in the picture

Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene and Managing Director Wayamba Group S.H. Sadikeen distribute hybrid maize seeds to farmers at a ceremony in Galenbindunuwewa organised by the Wayamba Group.

It was the popular singer Lakshmi Bai, who burning with patriotism sang 'Adi Sinhalun, Pita Deepa Desha Jayagatta' (Sri Lankans in the older era conquered the world). However, this export-oriented and self-sufficient economy was completely ruined by the colonial rulers who forcibly introduced cash crops such as cinnamon, tea, rubber and coffee and made the then Ceylon dependent on handouts and imports.

Due to this, today there is a big mismatch between exports and imports. Though successive leaders ignored this issue, an attempt was made by former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike to make Sri Lanka a self-sufficient nation.

However, this attempt failed and the idea was dropped for several decades until President Mahinda Rajapaksa took office.

Under the Mahinda Chinthana program, priority was given to agriculture once again, making the industry respected. Several private sector companies too got involved in agriculture and today the fruits of their labour are evident.

First it was the paddy farmers who re-wrote history again by exporting paddy. Permanent peace achieved by leading the biggest humanitarian operation, which resulted in the re-activation of the rice bowl, and the fertiliser subsidy were keys to this development.

Another noteworthy point to mention is the Divi Neguma program which makes rural farmers self-sufficient in agriculture.

Another agricultural landmark was created recently when, for the first time Sri Lanka exported maize.

Minister of Economic Development, Basil Rajapaksa, participated as the chief guest at the ceremony to mark the export of a shipment of 10,000 metric tons of maize for the first time in Sri Lanka to Taiwan and Brunei.

Sri Lanka is already self-sufficient in maize.

The country's maize demand is 180,000 MT per year and during harvesting of the first season a yield of 200,000 MT have been obtained.

A maize plantation

Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene also participated in this event. The initiative was taken by the Wayamba Group.

Govt initiatives

Managing Director Wayamba Group , S.H. Sadikeen said that thanks to the initiatives made by the Government, Sri Lanka is self-sufficient in maize now and the excess is now being exported.

"This has helped Sri Lanka earn more than US$ 300 million and most importantly is helping narrow the import, export deficit." Sri Lankan maize is being used to produce nutritional foods and also as animal feed.

Local production of maize was around 190 metric tons and with regular exports, the production has now increased by around 30 mt.

Due to peace and access to more land for agricultural purposes, this year Sri Lanka has become self-sufficient in maize production.

It has also created an additional demand which, currently, the company cannot meet. "This was the reason why we decided to set up this export village, to increase production," he said.

He said that though it was more expensive for buyers in Brunei and Taiwan to purchase maize from Sri Lanka, they keep on buying from the Wayamba Group due to its high quality product.

He said that they have established forward purchasing agreements with 2,220 farmers in the Anuradhapura district giving them a guaranteed price of Rs. 35 per kilo of maize.

Sadikeen said that export orders have been received from many countries and his company has also made arrangements to export maize flour to Japan which would be another historic occasion for Sri Lanka's agri sector.

Sadikeen disclosed that the Government is fully behind this project and also provided imported hybrid maize seeds to the value of Rs.10 million distributed on October 6, to over 800 outgrowers who, in turn, would cultivate over 2,000 acres.

Export villages

"We must thank President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene and Secretary to the Minister W. Sakalasuriya for going out of the way to help this project," he said.

To increase exports, the company, for the first time plans to set up an export village in Galenbindunuwewa, Anuradhapura.Sadikeen said that the Wayamba Group would also invest around Rs. 10 million on this export village concept which would also include a plant nursery. "This would be for the first stage and we would re-invest a further Rs. 190 million to have a processing factory where the company would carry out value additions in Sri Lanka and re- export," he said.

Minister Yapa said that due to the efforts made by the Government to encourage farmers to undertake maize cultivation, within a period of three years Sri Lanka could increase maize production by 168 percent.

The Minister also said that for the development of the country, public-private partnerships are required and hence the export of these products has been entrusted to the private sector.Sri Lanka is set to create another record by exporting both greengram and soya. The irony was that all these three seed varieties had been imported until very recently, spending billions of rupees and the pattern is now reversed, bringing in millions of US dollars and most crucially, providing self-employment to farmers, bringing them high returns. One of the key problems faced by the agriculture sector was the unavailability of a ready-made market and farmers growing these three crop varieties now have not only access to an instant market, but also a high warranted price.