Shortage of rice forecast after Oct. 2022
From October this year Sri Lanka won’t have sufficient rice for local consumption due to a shortfall in rice production, according to Professor Buddhi Marambe Senior Professor, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya.
One of Sri Lanka’s foremost agriculture experts, he was speaking on the food crisis at a recent meeting organised by the Sunday Times Business Club ( STBC) held at the Movenpick Hotel in Colombo. Movenpick is the host hotel of the club.
Sri Lanka has been producing rice in quantities that its people have consumed since 2008. The rice consumption is around 18,500-19,000 metric tonnes (MT) per month. Following a severe drought that affected rice cultivation in 2016 Sri Lanka had to import 7000 MT of rice to feed the nation for three and half months until agriculture was revived in 2019.
He said the recent ban on chemical fertiliser was the worse man-made decision taken on behalf of the agricultural sector in Sri Lanka since independence in 1948, leading to the ruination of agriculture.
“We are in a crisis situation today and will continue for some time until a revival takes place sometime later.
The ban on chemical fertiliser and synthetic pesticides came into force in April 2021 following the announcement made by the President of Sri Lanka. This happened in the midst of the Yala season when 60 per cent of the fertiliser intended to be used was banned. But where pesticides were concerned it can be stored for 24 months from the date of its manufacture. But following the ban academia and scientists urged the government to reverse its decision of banning chemical and synthetic pesticides which fell on the deaf ears of politicians,” he said.
Be that as it may many months later the government revoked the gazette notification banning importation of fertiliser as they realised food security is national security that should not be tampered with. But despite the ban being lifted, chemical fertiliser imports was confronted with a new situation - the foreign exchange crisis.
During the COVID- 19 pandemic the tea industry suffered a major setback. When tea and paddy is harvested nutrients from the soil are taken away and that’s why fertiliser becomes important. Otherwise the land becomes infertile. Last year Sri Lanka produced more than 299 million kg of made tea where 99 per cent of that was for exports. There was a growth recorded despite other obstacles that confronted the tea industry. During the pandemic the tea industry’s loss was estimated at 10 million kg.
Chairman National Agribusiness Council and Managing Director at Ma’s Tropical Food Processing (Pvt) Ltd, Mario De Alwis said that there are 6.5 million hectares of land in the country where 40 per cent of this land can be used for agriculture with 20 per cent used by the estate sector.
People in rural areas especially the educated young people do not want to stay in their lands. They seek mostly technical jobs where 27 per cent of them do not own land. They work in labour intensive jobs in other lands.
As per the current crisis, the trouble started during 1962 when fertilisers were subsidised. Prior to this the farmers cultivated their lands without subsidies and politicisation of the agriculture sector began in 1962.
As a result of a shortage of fuel and gas the mindset of people changed where they do not cultivate. In 2005 the Asian Development Bank (ADB)started a project to commercialise agriculture. This took a sudden turn when a government official went to Manila in the Philippines and told ADB officials that they were only interested in building super highways and bridges. Officials who were engaged in agriculture in Sri Lanka were upset as a result of pulling out of the agreement.