Food
Security is the recurring theme for all countries post pandemic, now suddenly
discovering that the old world order no longer holds and unlikely to return,
with a new normal taking over.
Nothing
is more important for a nation - to make sure its residents can obtain their
dietary requirements at a reasonable price. If Governments prioritize this,
other sustainable industries will automatically grow around this. We must be
focused in this direction. Vietnam is a prime example of growing on the backs
of this.
In
Sri Lanka's context the lip service paid to those in this industry has not
changed at all even post pandemic recession we are in the middle of.
It
is left to the Private Sector to fend for themselves. They prefer to do it
under the radar, when they reach economies of scale, rather than rely on the
State, as the latter interferes with the independence to operate, with the
normal supply and demand rules. In some cases political interference restricts
organic growth instead of assisting it.
Price
controls time and again have proved counter-productive as they have either been
short term and unsustainable as the recent experience of the Presidential
dictats that barely could be sustained for a month before they were
conveniently dropped without shame!
The
example in the link below is a success story in the poultry industry which has
been able to supply local demand, and have been able to take advantage of the
void created by supply chain dislocations to export to Middle East Markets of
Halal Certified Products.
If
one looks at the history of Crysbro they started small and are now one of the
most efficient producers of poultry products. This is due to the
entrepreneurial skill of its founders.
The
State duty is to assist the small scale farmer (not all people farming are
farmers, many are forced to farm because the state has enslaved them by giving
lands instead of maximizing their skills) with potential and desire with
technical knowledge and inputs appropriate to his or her vision. Training is an
integral part of this, in judging those with potential. There are educated
graduates in Agriculture, without the tools to engage in this field, while 90%
of the class are in that stream because they have just got the needed z score
to enter that faculty.
We
have got all our priorities wrong and we have leaders going to agricultural
area exhorting farmers to export, without selecting those with the most
potential (10% of farmers who have to be identified and selected) and assist
them with improving their skills, productivity, providing quality inputs and
assisting in value addition will provide the needed dividends. One has only to
use the examples of success stories to ask them how they were able to achieve
success to know how to replicate this for so many farmers in SL who have the
potential, desire, and vision, but lack the inputs needed.
We
must identify this pool of people from the community at large. They are also
the people most suited to run the country as opposed to the present mob vying
to enter parliament. They will turn around this Industry that has been
suppressed with inconsistent policies for so long.
As
the link shows, 2,000 farmers of maize have a direct market for their produce
to Crysbro so the latter can manufacture their own chicken feed. However the
answer is not banning the import of maize. Banning only increases the price of
inputs making the cost of production of poultry higher, as we have recently
seen. If we were able to increase supply of maize that is fine, but it is not
as simple as that, as the demand has always been there, but farmers need to be
assisted in increasing their output, not due to lower market price, but other
factors, such as poor seeds, lack of fertilizer, and schizophrenic policies
that have increased HEC (Human Elephant Conflict) in growing area, by further
restricting Elephant Habitats.
The
biggest myth is the lack of land to grow. We have at least 2 million hectares
of land that is unproductive due to parceling out land to landless, the most
enslaving policy that SL has performed since independence for political
purposes. If we put back a million hectares back to forest, we can then utilize
the other million hectares into productive agriculture.
Only
a farmer can see this need of balancing productivity with the needs of the
environment and not destroying forests that this Government is bent on doing.
In
conclusion the key is to identify the potential and develop that. Remember NOT
everyone who is classified as a farmer is a farmer. Please identify the 100,000
people in the country who could be classified as farmers from the 1,000,000 who
are engaged as such.
It
is the 100,000 true farmers who appreciate sustainability not the 900,000 who
just want a free ride by cutting more trees and forests to further devastate
the land, and the livelihood of a whole nation. It the politician who is
pandering to these bogus farmers for their survival that is killing Sri Lanka
and worsening the crisis.
There is another matter that needs consideration. With the
Government banning the import of maize, a key ingredient in the chicken feed
for the Poultry Industry, the local price of maize goes up, however the supply
does not increase to match the demand. Then the poultry producers increase the
price of chicken as we have seen already, as the feed cost has risen. So if
local demand from the consumer falls, as the consumer has less money to buy
chicken or eggs, then an efficient producer with contacts in the Middle East
has no option but to export if he has a market, where he is able to make a
higher profit margin than selling locally. As long as there is an opening here
that is fine, if you don't have the export leads, then you have to face the
local market realities, of being squeezed, profit wise!
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