Sri lankan Agriculture Today

In view of these realities to sri lanka ;s agricultural situation a major issue surfaces as to what have been the impact of the plans and programmes discussed in chapters 2 and 3 of this paper Taken together they do not seem to have contributed much towards a qualitative and structural transformations of sri lankan agriculture. Of course, one must remember that the Second 1958 and the Fifth Effort 1971/72 could not be fully operationalised due to many reasons, some of them being the political changes which adversely affected their implementation. It is possible to argue that situation would have been different if these efforts could have been fully operationalized.

It should be noted that the Mahaweli Development Programme of 1971 as well as the Accelerated Programme of 1978 and several programmes resulting from the Irrigation programme Review mentioned above attempted to change the traditional system of subsistence mono-crop farming into a profitable economic venture that could ensure an adequate income to the individual farmer and also a surplus for the nation . New Farming Systems, new cropping patterns with related agro-based enterprises and rural industries based on innovative organizational and institutional arrangements were proposed and some of them were operationalized in the settlement areas.
After the open market economic policies, a project designated Management of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) funded by USAID attempted to commercialize Mahaweli agriculture in system ‘B’ Under the Accelerated programme of 1978 several attempts were made to grow high value crops such as okra, cantaloupe melon, yellow onions, gherkins etc. On a large scale through contract growers in the Mahaweli systems. Several local Marketing firms in collaboration with some foreign Firms entered into forward contracts with out grower farmers. In the Mahaweli systems on the basis of pre-arranged and negotiated pricing and marketing arrangements. Such crops were grown in paddy fields as a means of diversification particularly during the lean season. The Accelerated programme also facilitated the establishment of rice milling and processing, livestock development and production of yoghurt and a few other enterprises. Through these arrangements, there was emerging a some kind of trend to move towards commercialization of agriculture.
After nearly twenty five years of operation and acceleration is Mahaweli Agriculture and ‘’settlement Agriculture’ in general capable of withstanding the pressures and challenges of an open market economy and be sustainable in a global context?
Several studies and surveys conducted by the Ministry have revealed that despite different efforts over the fifty year after Independence, Sri lanka‘s agriculture sector is not encouraging even today. Over the last decade, the growth rate in the sector remained at a very low level of 2% annually or amounting to half of the national average.
‘’Sri lanka’s non-plantation agriculture sector, referred to as the domestic food production sector, is now at a ‘’cross-roads’’ with no visible signs of improvement. The sector has lost its momentum over the last 10-15 years. This is reflected in key indicators such as, per acre yield of crops, total annual output, intensity of use of irrigated lands, farm family income and employment. During this period the prices of all major production inputs in agriculture, particularly that of labour and machinery , have risen several fold resulting in a sharp escalation of farmer’s production cost. The farmgate prices of agriculture produce, however, have not kept pace with the rising costs of production. Consequently , there has been a gradual reduction in returns to the producer.
Furthermore, the prices of most domestically produced agricultural commodities, in general, show a high volatility leading to wide income variations and uncertainties unfavorable to the producer. With the plateauing of domestic agricultural production. The country’s dependence on imported food, particularly wheat, has grown. The cost escalation in non traditional agricultural production has also adversely affected the international competitiveness of exports.