Wealth creation from science education
March 15, 2016, 7:41 pm
General President’s Address, Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, delivered by
Prof. C. Deepal Mathew
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo
Sri Lanka is a low middle income country. To progress towards a high income country we have to commercialize our natural resources. We must market them not as raw materials but as finished products.
Industrial chemical resources in Sri Lanka include Graphite, limonite, Rutile Quartz, Feldspar, Clay, Kaolin, Apatite (Phosphate rock) silica sand, Garnet sand, Mica, Calcite and Dolomite. Pulmuddai beach sand deposit is the most important non- ferrous minerals reserve in Sri Lanka to date. This deposit contains minerals including one of the most expensive and sought after metals in the world – titanium. However we still export this sand as a raw material and have not developed value added products.
Eppawala phosphate reserve is estimated to contain 60 million tons of apatite. Quartz, ball clay, silica and feldspar are utilized in the ceramics and glass industries. This is a success story and our porcelain is ranked among the best in the world.
Graphite exports in Sri Lanka date back to 1675. Sri Lankan Graphite has high purity and is used in graphite lubricants, flake graphite, carbon brushers, and midget electrodes and in nanotechnology. However Sri Lanka only exports graphite as a raw material.
Sri Lanka produces 70 varieties of Colored gemstones. We are one of the five most important gem bearing nations of the world. Sri Lankan gems and jewelry has been mentioned in literary works for back as 250 BC. Blue sapphires of Sri Lanka adorn the British crown. Sri Lanka today is not successful at producing high value cut and polished gemstones and jewelry to the up market customers in developed countries.
Our main export agriculture products are tea rubber and coconut. We still export most of our tea as bulk tea. Sri Lanka is successful in the rubber industry, utilizing 70% of production for industrial products. A major portion of coconut production is used for local consumption. Sri Lanka ranks fourth in the export of kernel products and is number one in export of brown fiber. New products of virgin oil, coconut cream are now exported directly to supermarkets in other countries.
