Sri Lanka, with a recorded history of over 2,500 years had been ruled by a large number of kings and a handful of queens until we became a colony of the British Empire in 1815.
All our ancient rulers had governed the country based on the agricultural footing especially with the paddy cultivation as rice had been our staple food from the days of yore.
Our history records reveal that most of our ancient kings had performed yeomen service to their countrymen during their tenures mainly based on the agricultural economy. Our ancient kings had built huge tanks in the dry zone to preserve water for paddy cultivation and an unbelievably sophisticated irrigation network through which the water was supplied adequately to the distant areas in the dry zone.
The kings who ruled the country during the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Dambadeniya eras are special among them as our country had been self sufficient in rice production and they had even exported ship loads of rice to other neighbouring countries as well.
Fall of the Kandyan Kingdom
With the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom in 1815 our country became a colony of the British Empire and the British rulers completely neglected the paddy cultivation. Instead they introduced cash crops such as tea and rubber, especially in the upcountry and most other parts of the country where the climate was suitable for tea and rubber cultivation.
Sinhala patriotic leaders at this time were not happy with the British administration due to a number of reasons and the first ever rebellion against the Empire took place in 1818. The British rulers not only massacred a large number of Sinhala leaders and revolutionists but their entire paddy cultivation in Uva Wellassa areas were completely destroyed by the British army to cripple the rural economy which had flourished for ages based on paddy cultivation.
Dawn of independence
However, after 133 years of foreign domination our country regained independence in 1948 under the leadership of D. S. Senanayake. He was a prominent member of the State Council in charge of agriculture even under the British rulers too.
D.S. Senanayake though not a professional or an academic scholar, was the visionary leader of all times who had an inborn instinct and ability and a vision to develop the country in agriculture while maintaining a very cordial relationship with other communities.
He launched a number of projects and programs to promote an agricultural economy in the country. After our ancient kings who had built huge lakes, the Senanayake Samudraya launched by D.S. Senanayake was one of the greatest feats carried out by him during his tenure.
The Galoya multi-purpose scheme, colonisation schemes and various other programs launched by D.S. Senanayake helped the country to revive the agriculture economy, specially the paddy cultivation in the country.
After Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake’s untimely demise, his elder son who was the then Minister of Agriculture, Dudley Senanayake became the Prime Minister and he too continued the good work initiated by his father paying more attention to agriculture. Vast areas in the Dry Zone were brought under the plough and the rural economy was stabilised to some extent.
With the passage of time governments changed from to time and no significant improvement was made in the agricultural sector until the advent of the administration of J.R. Jayewardene who was also committed to promote agricultural economy of the country.
After becoming the first Executive President of the country, he immediately set up a new Ministry – Mahaweli Development Ministry and appointed his able lieutenant Gamini Dissanayake as the Minister in charge with targeted deadlines for different agricultural projects.
Gamini Dissanayake lived up to the expectation of his leader and completed the multipurpose Mahaweli Development Project within six years which had been originally scheduled to be completed in 30 years.
Thousands of hectares were cultivated, all infrastructure facilities were provided, human settlements were made, new towns emerged, and to boost the rural economy Mahaweli zones were set up and a new generation of an affluent farmer community automatically came into being.
With the success of the Mahaweli diversion scheme a significant development was made in the agricultural sector in the country which finally catered to enhance the national economy. The country experienced plain sailing in the agricultural sector for nearly two decades and owing to the LTTE atrocities in the North and the East it hampered the growth of paddy cultivation mainly in the Eastern Province.
Sri Lankans who were self-sufficient in rice production not only during the ancient kings’ rule but even during the recent past are today rated as one of the poorest countries with malnutrition prevalent among a substantial percentage of young children and even among lactating mothers.
Prime objective
It should be the prime objective and the greatest responsibility of the present Government to take immediate steps to revive the shattered agricultural economy which had been devastated due to wrong economic policies and decisions taken by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration.
Politicians may come and go but agriculture should remain forever as rice is our staple diet and we cannot do away with it. Ours is essentially an agrarian economy and paddy cultivation weathered all storms, manmade and natural from the times of ancient kings. It should enjoy the national priority.
For increased agricultural production use of modern technology should be introduced with world trends. It is an accepted fact that our cultivable and arable lands are fast disappearing due to human settlements and other development activities.
All the dilapidated tanks and reservoirs must be restructured and the role of the Paddy Marketing Board should be re-examined to ascertain whether it is a white elephant.
If so, remedial measures should be taken forth with. It is the duty of the state to go for novel methods and introduce high-yielding paddy varieties to the farmer community. We can easily obtain the novel methods and agricultural technology followed by countries such as Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan and China whose harvest is more than double that of ours. Their agricultural success is an eye-opener for anybody who is interested in rapidly enhancing the production and the quality of the produce.
While providing all facilities to farmers such as fertiliser, weedicide, seeds, storage facilities, fuel and other requirements, the government should set up a mechanism to monitor the sale and distribution of the paddy harvest to protect the farmers from unscrupulous middlemen who make exorbitant profits.
It is a recurrent problem at the end of every harvesting season by the farmers and various farmer organisations that a handful of giant rice mill owners are swindling their harvest without an adequate payment for their produce. The ministry should intervene in this whole exercise to provide a reasonable solution to this problem satisfying all stakeholders for the smooth functioning of the cultivation process.
Tea and rubber plantation
The tea and rubber plantation industry is also equally vital in the agricultural development process in the country as it earns a substantial percentage of our national income through tea and rubber. Prior to 1980, tea and rubber were the biggest revenue earners for Sri Lanka’s economy.
It was also badly affected due to the fertiliser problem during the past two years and the forex earned by it reduced to its lowest levels making the national economy to crawl further.
However, it is admirable to see the present Minister in charge Dr. Ramesh Pathirana working tirelessly with the officials and the stakeholders of the trade to revive the plantation sector to its former pristine glory.