Priorities for the New Government

As published in The Island, September 07, 2015
By Dr. C S Weeraratna

Sri Lanka is a land of villages and there are around 14,000 of them. Most of the people, nearly 80 percent, live in villages. Thus, for the success of any development programmes appropriate strategies need to be taken to address the needs of the rural communities. However, the previous government did not give priority to the critical issues faced by the rural sector.

Roads

Lack of reasonable transport facilities in the rural areas is one of the main setback to Sri Lanka’s overall prosperity. Many roads in rural areas need to be rehabilitated and even walking is difficult along some of these roads. People living in some rural areas have to wade through rivers as there are no bridges. It is extremely important that the present government make a serious effort to rehabilitate roads in rural areas and construct bridges where necessary.

Agriculture sector

A substantial percentage of Sri Lankans directly or indirectly depend on agriculture. The previous government launched various programmes such as “Api Wawamu-Rata Nagamu”, and Divineguma to increase national food production. Inorganic fertilizers were made available at a subsidized price, but the difficulties faced by the farmers to market their produce at a reasonable price have negated the benefits of providing subsidised fertilizers. Very often farmers are forced to destroy their produce due to their inability to dispose of it at reasonable prices. Marketing of agricultural products at a profit to the farmer has become a constraint. The non availability of efficient channels of distribution of agricultural produce is a key limiting factor in the agriculture sector affecting the rural sector.

In any programme/plan for development of the agriculture sector, agro-industries are an area which has to be given much emphasis. A large number of crops cultivated in Sri Lanka have considerable potential in various agro-industries. However, only rubber, coconut and a few fruit crops are used in industries. Crops such as cassava, horticultural and floricultural crops, medicinal herbs, cane, bamboo, sunflower, castor , ayurvedic herbs, etc. have a considerable industrial potential but are not cultivated to any appreciable extent for want of better and improved varieties, technological know-how, relevant market information etc. Even most of ayurvedic herbs such as katuwelbatu are imported. The development of agro-industries will increase employment opportunities and hence income in the rural sector. It will also increase export income and will have a tremendous impact on the economy of the country. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop agro-industries in Sri Lanka. The private sector can be involved in projects for which appropriate technical assistance need to be given by the relevant public organisations such as the Ministry of industries, the Industrial Development Board, the ITI, the Board of Investment, the Export Development Board, the Ministry of Agriculture etc. However, there appears to be no proper plan on developing agro-industries except for some ad hoc projects. The former Ministry of Industries did not implement effective plans to promote agro-industries in the country.

Water sector

Although country receives around 100 billion cubic metres of water annually, frequent water shortages have affected thousands of people, mostly in the rural areas. They face immense difficulties due to non availability of water for drinking and other domestic purposes. Even at present, people in many districts are facing the problem of inadequate water supply.

One of the main reasons for water shortage in many parts of the country is high surface run-off. Rainwater that falls on to the ground infiltrates and the balance runs-off. Infiltration is promoted by organic matter levels in the soil. But, most of the soils, especially those in the high rainfall areas are eroded and cannot retain much water and thus they favour run-off. For example, the top soil in the central highlands has got eroded to a considerable extent resulting a drop in its capacity to retain water. According to a number of studies, the loss of top soil due to water erosion in the tea lands in the central highlands could be around 40 t/ha/yr. Silt and clay carried by run-off water gets into tanks in the dry zone, reducing its capacity to hold water. It is because of this that most tanks spill after a few days of rain and dry up after a few weeks/months of dry weather.

Inhabitants of rural areas do not get a regular supply of water. Hence, they have to walk long distances to collect water and even the water that is available is not pure. There are economic, environmental, social and cultural constraints associated with the provision of safe water. Women are the most affected by lack of access to safe drinking water since in a water scarce situation they spend most of their time to fetch water for domestic needs, thereby limiting their involvement in income generating activities.

The amount of water available for irrigation, domestic use etc. can be increased considerably by implementing appropriate soil conservation measures which will reduce run-off and promoting infiltration. The collection of rainwater would also increase water availability. The former minister of Water Supply and Drainage Dinesh Gunawardena evinced a keen interest in promoting rainwater harvesting.

Wild Elephants

Almost daily we hear of deaths of many people in the rural areas caused by wild elephants which destroy crops and houses as well. The human-elephant conflict not only aggravates the socioeconomic hardships the rural sector has to face but also take a long-term socio-economic impacts on health, education and many other aspects of the rural population. There are no mechanisms for compensating the families affected by elephants. Erecting community-based electric fences to protect farm plots and home gardens from elephants is only a temporary measure. Long term solutions to the wild elephant problem need to be developed. There have been ministers for wildlife to look into issues related to wild elephants but they have apparently not taken the trouble of implementing an effective programme to solve the problem of wild elephants.

Chronic Kidney Disease

Around 70,000 people in several districts are affected by a chronic kidney disease (CKDu). They are mostly in the rural areas. If there are 70,000 CKDu affected patients, altogether around 350,000 people (members of the families of the CKDu patients) are affected socially and economically. The patients in the final stages of CKDu have to go for dialysis every 10-12 days and they have to meet travel expenses and also the cost of the chemicals required for dialysis. Most of the patients are farmers and they have lost the last cropping seasons. Both parents of some families affected by CKDu have died and the children of such families are in a desperate situation. They are in dire need of financial assistance.

Land slides

Land degradation is evident in many parts of the country. One of the main factors attributable to the declining productivity of land in the rural sector is soil degradation. Rainfall of high intensity and erosivity and inappropriate land management practices are the main causes of soil degradation which tends to trigger land slides killing a large number of people and destroying property. Most of these degraded lands are in the Central, Sabaragamuwa and Uva provinces and encompass most parts of the central highlands where the upper drainage basins of several the rivers and all major hydropower catchments are located. The sustenance of water resource development and power generating projects that have been undertaken in the country depends to a great extent on country’s major river systems. Recent press reports indicate that the capacity of the Polgolla reservoir has decreased due to silting, caused by soil erosion. It is a common sight to see the banks of Mahaveli and other rivers cultivated with annual crops which promote soil erosion. Hence, proper management of the central highlands is extremely important from the point of view of sustaining our capacities to produce food and generate hydro-power and also reducing environmental pollution.

Cost-of Living

According to recent estimates about 30 percent of the total households in Sri Lanka live below the poverty line and most of the poor live in rural areas. A socio-economic survey conducted in the recent past indicates that though the rural sector has the ability to engage in productive activities, inefficient utilisation of available resources is a constraint. The nutrition standard of a large percentage of the population is reported to be low. Nutrition surveys conducted in the recent past indicate high prevalence of malnutrition, increase in stunting and wasting and a general decrease in the nutritional standards. These conditions are likely to have been caused by chronic poverty which constrains the poor to benefit from development programmes.

The total area under home gardens in Sri Lanka is around 300,000 hectares, representing about 25% of the total agricultural area operated by peasants. Hence, home-gardens are an important component of the rural agricultural sector and play an important role in reducing COL and also increasing nutrition standards of the people. Cultivating vegetables, floricultural and horticultural crops, and medicinal plants would bring about many benefits, especially to the rural poor. Those who have home gardens could be made aware of use of bio fertilisers, bio-pesticides etc which are less costly and environment friendly. However, the productivity of home-gardens in general is low due to a number of factors. Among these are lack of interest among the household members mainly due to difficulty of obtaining good quality seeds/planting material, lack of technical know-how, occurrence of pests and diseases, depletion of soil fertility etc. Few farmers adopt soil conservation, crops/livestock integration and waste recycling. One of the objectives of the Divineguma project implemented by the former government was to promote home-gardening but it was not successful.

It is fervently hoped that the new government will address these critical issues which affect the rural sector. It will contribute in a more meaningful way towards the socio-economic development of the country.

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