Racism, religious tensions will never be allowed again - Prime Minister

Dharma Sri Abeyratne

Wednesday, May 24, 2017 

Racism and religious tensions must never be allowed to rear their ugly heads, and if someone violates the law and tries to create ethnic or religious disputes, the Police has to take action against those responsible, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

“Some elements with vested interests that tried and failed to destabilise the country by propagating separatism are now trying to achieve the same objective by creating religious tensions.We cannot allow such things to take place.We all should get-together and condemn and prevent such acts” he added.

The Prime Minister also said that there cannot be room for another war in the country.

The Prime Minister made these remarks at a ceremony organised to evaluate several projects of the NYSC, at Temple Trees yesterday.

Speaking to the large youth gathering, the Prime Minister said he has instructed to the relevant authorities to increase the number of Yovun Samaja and to strengthen the Youth Parliament further.

The Prime Minister said that the National Youth Services Council was restructured after the people’s victory of 2015, aiming to open more doors for youths to come forward to steer the country.

Under this move, National Youth Council was strengthened by establishing “Yovun Samaja” countrywide at village level again. Besides, the Youth Parliament was established aiming to create multi-skilled youths, he added.

The government is duty bound to generate new employments and to generate income sources especially for youths. The attentions of the government, has drawn on creating more employment opportunities for youths now.

He said: “Whatever we do there should be peace in the country. Nothing can be achieved or gained without having peace.

If this event was held during the terror period, no youth from the North and East could achieve anything at the Youth evaluating ceremony. The lifestyle was decayed after 1985 as the result of terrorism.Youths lived in North left the country” he said.

He added that people in the North and East are receiving the dividends of peace. As there is no war in the country, the government is engaged in creating a better future for youths.

The country needs not any arm conflicts hereafter, since such conflicts bring much misery to the country.

Base on the new constitution, which being prepared, the eternal peace is established.

“Without peace there is no development” the Prime Minister noted.

He added that countries which were below us by 1983, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, have overtook our country by now owing to terrorism. Bangladesh is nearing us. Only Myanmar, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Laos are behind us. Those countries overtook us since we were affected by the war. Accordingly, it is needed to have peace for the country to move forward and achieve prosperity.

If the peace is protected, the country can move forward rapidly. He noted that the country is assisted by the world including the Europe. With the receiving of GSP+ the country’s economy will benefit immensely.

“As a result of improved international relations, many countries have come forward to assist Sri Lanka. India, China are going to assist the Sri Lanka on various key projects in many sectors including power and energy sector, production, tourism sector etc” he said.

Above all, with the GSP+ tax concession, exports should be increased, Prime Minister added that everyone needs to take the advantage of the GSP + concession.

The re-emergence of the BBS

2017-05-24

Who is a Buddhist? That’s a simple question but one that can yield innumerable answers. 
The innumerability of course can be explained and explained innumerably through reference to the Buddhist canon. The point is, labelling and self-labelling are both easy exercises. For the record, if you replace ‘Buddhist’ with the follower of any other faith, again there can be many responses whose multiplicity can severally be explained drawing from the particular doctrinal canon.
What this allows is for anyone to decry anything done in the name of the particular faith as ‘aberrant’ and for anyone engaged in the said ‘aberrance’ to dismiss censure either as ‘aberrance’ or deflect the issue by taking aberrations of other faiths as doctrinal core.
And so we have the ISIS as ‘Islam’, Christian Fundamentalism not as something flowing from convenient and irresponsible Bible-interpretation but ‘The Word of (the Christian) God’, and the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) as representative of ‘All Buddhists’.
A ‘True Buddhist’ one could argue would have resolved to do the utmost to follow the dhamma, would abide by precepts, would have embraced recommendations such as rehearsing the sathara brahma viharana and committed himself/herself to the sathara sangraha vastu, among other things. Anyone who has not, one can argue, is not a Buddhist. A Buddhist would therefore be one who, as per the recommendations embedded in the dhamma, will not be perturbed by the vicissitudes of life, will take all manner of insults and bludgeoning (metaphorical and literary) should they visit the person as an individual or a member of a religious community, show compassion, demonstrate patience etc., etc.
The problem is that ‘Buddhists’ are not Buddhists (and of course neither are Christians, Christians or Muslims, Muslims) in strictly doctrinal terms. 
This does not mean that they are not identified as Buddhists or that they decline to be identified as Buddhists, even though attachments to labels could be taken as a hindrance to the dharmic journey, if you will. Identity, simply put, is a complex affair.
All this notwithstanding, there’re both Buddhist as well as other reasons to object to the BBS and its behaviour, which includes intolerable intolerance of other religious communities and inciting, if not engaging in violence.
“Bring them to book!” is a relevant and legitimate demand. The law must prevail, of that let there be no confusion. 
The Government can do more. If the BBS (Like the LTTE) thrives on grievances that are not addressed, then there’s nothing to stop the relevant authorities from taking them up, investigating to the satisfaction of all and (As the case may be) dispelling  confusion and error, thereby (if that is the case) confiscating all possible rhetoric-ammunition from the BBS.
On the one hand, the BBS infringed the law. On the other hand, even outside the law, the actions of the BBS, regardless of the validity of the claimed precipitating factors, clearly constitute a threat to peaceful coexistence of communities given that emotions frequently defeat reason — again an affront (Shall we say?) to the Buddha’s advocacy of pragna and maithri(wisdom and compassion).
And yet, like all extreme forces engaged in identity politics, it preys on the insecurities of the prthagjana (All the more reason for the Government to act swiftly.) We don’t want another Aluthgama. If there are issues in Ampara or elsewhere as the BBC alleges, then the Government should investigate without ruminating on the politics of numbers and scurrying under the carpet of ‘reconciliation’ and ‘coexistence’.
Failure to do so or any delay in the exercise of law enforcement (Which includes the investigation of complaints in a fair and transparent manner) would and should be seen as a tacit encouragement of inter-communal disharmony. 
Among the reasons that may be attributed to such incompetence on the part of the relevant authorities would be the charge that a ‘BBS Moment’ is politically useful. The BBS has a history and part of the story is indulgence on the part of the authorities simply because there are times when such ‘distractions’ are a blessing.
The BBS was out of action and out of the political equation. All of a sudden it is in the news. How did it become emboldened? These are not deep philosophical questions. They are simple questions anyone can ask. Answering them would tell us a lot about the BBS and perhaps a lot more besides. 
Perhaps there’s nothing else in it, and if that is the case, there would be relief. Leaving such questions hanging, however, will only generate other, even more worrying questions which, among other things may lead people to conclude that there’s a politics behind it all that has nothing to do with communal angst. 

Anti-Muslim Attacks: Maithri Passes The Buck, Blames Police

MAY 23, 2017

President Maithripala Sirisena who has in the past ordered the Police to carry out impartial investigations on various crimes, in his capacity as the Head of State, has this time around passed the buck, evading responsibility and has instead blamed the police for allowing anti-Muslim attacks to escalate in the country. He had blamed the police during yesterday’s SLFP Central Committee meeting.

President Sirisena

His comments comes as yet another Muslim owned shop in Kahawatte was torched by an unidentified group. Meanwhile, the Colombo Telegraph learns that during the meeting presided by Sirisena yesterday, the Muslim ministers who are SLFP members had remained mum and instead it was several junior members of the party who had expressed their growing concerns over the violence against their community. Several non-Muslim members had also supported the junior Muslim members and had said that steps must be taken to put an end to these attacks against the minority community.

Even though Sirisena appeared to be soft peddling the issue and has failed to take action against the hate crime culprits led by Bodu Bala Sena’s (BBS) General Secretary Galagoda Atte Gnanasara, Sirisena was quick to express his condolence to the people of Manchester following today’s attack, all while his very own people were being attacked by hardcore Buddhist groups with mosques and shops owned by Muslims coming under increasing attack since last month. Since the escalation of attacks against Muslims last week, neither has Sirisena or Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe issued any official statements condemning the attacks on the Muslims.

Over the weekend, Sirisena also shot down a request by Muslim MPs who wanted to meet him to discuss the growing attacks against their community. Amidst rising tensions, Sirisena left for Australia today. Meanwhile, the US Ambassador in Sri Lanka and the EU Office in Colombo have expressed concern and have called on the Government to take prompt action against the growing hate crimes in the country.

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Compliments to Minister Sagala 

May 23, 2017

Top officials of the Police Department are highly praising the Minister of Law and Order Sagala Ratnayaka for his straight forward comments made during a recent Conference.

Deputy Inspector Generals and Senior Superintendents of Police were summoned by the IGP for this special conference on May 20 where Minister Ratnayake was invited to address the officers.  

In his brief speech he has said that he has only three points to mention.

“First no one informed me in particular that there will be a special conference where all senior Police officers from all areas of the country are participating. This should have been informed even to the President. Somebody purposely ignored informing me. If an emergency situation arise somewhere in the country who is going to take the responsibility as all who are responsible are seated here in the Conference. Currently there is an emergency situation in Kurunegala where a mob has attacked a mosque. And the second factor I wanted to raise was that the Police received high praise from the Public for implementing the law being unbiased by January 08, 2015. If not for this decision of the Police we will not be in power. Because the Police did their job to the best of their ability the Government came in to power without a blood bath.

Third one is the degradation of such esteem Police Department as we witness today. Currently The Police Department is filled with meditation programs and conferences. The crime rate is in the rise. The current Inspector General of Police is responsible for this. He is a god person. Yet he has no clarity over his priorities. Therefore the entire Police Department is facing chaos.” said Minister Ratnayaka.

Ignoring the Minister’s criticism IGP Jayasundara continued with the conference till 9.40 pm, a full 13 hours, amidst heavy displeasure of the participants.

New Finance Minister sees country's private sector as vanguard of growth

A president had to hide in a paan van to avoid protesters overseas

By Saman Indrajith-May 23, 2017, 11:31 pm 

The country at the time of the change of government in 2015 was like the Meethotamulla garbage dump, Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera told Parliament yesterday.

Moving seven resolutions under the Appropriation Act for debate, the new Finance Minister said: "I had serious doubts when I accepted this portfolio. I was wondering whether the shoes were too big for my feet. Many illustrious political leaders and statesmen of the past held this post. Among them were people like Ronnie de Mel, N. M. Perera, J. R. Jayewardene and Felix Dias Bandaranaike. I hope to obtain the expertise of both government and private sector leaders to do my best.

"I have accepted this portfolio at a time when a strong foundation has been laid down to develop the economy faced with a heavy debt burden. That foundation was laid down by my predecessor, incumbent Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake.

"When I saw  the recent Meethotamulla disaster, it struck my mind that there was no difference between that garbage dump and the country we accepted on Jan 08, 2015. On one side there is a heap of dead bodies of journalists, of children who had asked for drinking water and others. The country was internationally isolated. The UN had been forced by the rest of members of the international community to commence an investigation against us without asking for our consent. They we had to contend with the problem of loans to the tune of Rs 8,503 billion. There had been no fiscal discipline and the Treasury was empty. We have been able to put the country’s economy on the right track again. The former President had to hide in a van carrying bread to reach a foreign airport to avoid protesters. Our fishermen lost the opportunity to sell their products to Europe. Before completion of two years, we managed to obtain GSP Plus. Last March, 48 other nations voted for us to secure GSP Plus. The president and the prime minister are invited by other nations.

"We have to accept the fact that those who died were Sri Lankans whether they were from the North or the South.

"I see the private sector as the vanguard of our economy. We would obtain their contribution for the development of our economy. This economic structure is based on open economic policies introduced by former President JR Jayewardene. We need to introduce several reforms in keeping with the latest developments in international economic realm. We will convert this country into an economic hub in the Indian Ocean by 2025."

Budget Dept. to provide details of vehicles used by Ministers

2017-05-23

The Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance had requested the Budget Department to provide details on the vehicles provided to Ministers since January 2015, the Committee Chairman, MP M. A. Sumanthiran told Parliament today.

Mr. Sumanthiran said the Public Finance Committee has also informed the Budget Dept. to provide details on the present conditions of the vehicles used by the Ministers prior to January 15, 2017.

He said the committee had approved the supplementary estimates presented to the House to purchase new vehicles for the Ministers but had decided to put on hold to the purchase of vehicles till the Department provides information which it (Finance Committee) had asked for.
The latest supplementary estimate was to spend Rs. 330 million worth of vehicles for Ministers. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)

External Affairs Minister Ravi K’s “Internal Affair”

By Nagananda Kodituwakku –MAY 23, 2017

Nagananda Kodituwakku

Any person holding a public office, if found to have abused it for improper purposes violating the law, particularly the bribery or corruption, the law demands such persons to be dismissed from the public office and people want such people be named and shame in public.

Before Ravi Karunanayake was appointed to the office of the Finance Minister, the PM, Ranil Wickremesinghe had the prior knowledge that Ravi K was an accused charged before the High Court (HC/4648/2009) of Colombo by Rajapaksa Administration in a serious foreign exchange fraud involving 3 million US Dollars. The man who sent that money, Raj Rajarathnam, is already serving 11-year jail term in the US.

The total breakdown of law in this country is such that regarding this factor Ravi K was made the Finance Minister by Yahapalana Administration, and he was subsequently discharged from the case, due to an error in the indictment as claimed by the defense lawyer which did not prejudice the rights of the accused Ravi K. However, in the judgment delivered on 18th May 2015 the legal right of the Attorney General has been expressly secured by the Court to charge Ravi K on an amended indictment. However, after he was discharged Ravi K went on the town, deceiving the people that he was exonerated from all charges, which is a diabolical lie.

Then it became the statutory duty of Attorney General, Yuwanjana Wijeyathilake to perform the office as required by law, which has not been done to date. Herein it is important to mention that another former Minister of the previous regime Basil Rajapaksa was charged with an amended indictment under similar circumstances.

The Attorney General Yuwanjana Wijeyathilake went on retirement without complying with the Court ruling. Therefore on 09th March 2017 he was charged with corruption and abuse of office to confer a favour to a senior Cabinet Member of a Yahapalana Administration and enabling it to rob the public finance as in the case of Bond Scam. And in the public interest now the incumbent Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya has also been served with a notice on 14th March 2017 to perform the public office he holds on trust, urging him to act as required by law against Ravi K. In these circumstances it is beyond belief as to how such a person has been given one of the most important Cabinet portfolios, the Foreign Minister.

This simply demonstrates the total breakdown of Rule of Law in this country, which is an insult to the intelligence of the people, inflicted by those who are appointed or elected to the public offices in the Legislature and in the Executive.

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Lack of intellectual depth in our leaders and its sad consequences

“I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.” 
-Thomas Jefferson 

2017-05-24

In all political theatres, when the lights are dim and the drum-roll begins, the actors and actresses, veterans and rookies alike, take their respective cues and enter the main stage. The storylines are, if the purpose is to shatter box-office records, consistently shallow and distastefully bizarre; music loud and insufferably out of tune; dialogues lofty and cascading like rainwater from a spout; costumes tailored to suit the audience-acceptance, bright and garish and sets irreversibly out of place and abnormally out of size. But what is most natural and unspeakably remarkable is acting. No player is second to the other. In fact, each one tries to surpass the other and overall performance exceeds expectations. However, authenticity is sadly lacking and a thick veneer of artificiality conceals some deeply dangerous minds bent on pursuing ‘success’ at all and any costs.
There begins and ends the great political drama; one enacted by treacherously ambitious frauds whose values are measured in terms of Rupees and Cents, Dollars and Sterling Pounds and Yuan and Yen. This is the tragic tale of political theatre. Since the day the first Neanderthal stepped out of the caves to the beginning of civilization, this panoramic theatre has been witnessed by countless generations of man, and the fundamental frame and architecture of the saga have not changed even one iota. The greed and appetite for things more luxurious continues; what was luxurious at the beginning of our civilization, may today look utterly laughable and puny; in that journey of civilization, from Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa to the present day, a very few rulers had made any attempt to renounce power; a very rare few had succeeded in that noble attempt.  
The dichotomy of Monarch vs. Commoner, Ruler vs. Subject and President and or Prime Minister vs. the Masses has been astir right throughout our history and our great chroniclers have written down its eventful passage for posterity. Historians have rendered many a different version relying on their own unfathomable depths of knowledge and wisdom. But the tragedy lies, not in our being unable to comprehend the wisdoms of our learned ones but our inability and unwillingness to see the rays of day although they clearly penetrate our mortal souls. The twenty first century offers mankind that no other era of the human story has witnessed or experienced. And that is the availability of unedited data and unrefined knowledge that is cascading through the tubes of television and bandwidths of the computer. When such raw data is coming into contact with the untrained and undisciplined mind, that data becomes the subject to be manipulated, shaped and fashioned by the cruel crafts of marketers whose only goal is profit.
When one contemplates the current political impasse in Sri Lanka in that grand context of history, both ancient and contemporary, what does one see? Or does the current set of political and social circumstances qualify for that intellectual scrutiny or does it not matter, for that set of circumstances looks like a speck of dust in a vast universe of history and fades into the terrain of insignificant and trivial. My contention is thus: however much insignificant and trivial our anguish in relation to the current socio-political dynamic is, a historian applies to decipher the web of our grand and complex human story in a most scientific manner and bares out for students to continue to do so. I am no historian by any standard but my interest in the analysis of events, both current and past has intrigued me to see contemporary events in a perspective of historical prism. In those attempts, some of my forecasts have come true while a great deal more have gone a way out of the realm of success. Yet that has not deterred me from persisting.
It is in that context I am surveying the current local political-canvass and trying to see the vague lines of nuanced portfolios of the characters that influence the whole painting. Although this exercise deserves a more detailed accounting running into volumes, I am trying to pen it in approximately fifteen hundred words- with all due respect to our readers- which usually is the attention span of a newspaper reader. However, the delicate balance between the ruler and the subjects, the ever-changing, fragile dialogue between the holder of power and those who are subject to that power and, the inter-relationship between the ruler and ruled, the dynamic duel between these two parties assumes an identity outside their separate individual identities.
And although that identity exists independent of these individual identities of the said parties, the threshold is thin and imperceptibly faint;the context is convoluted and complex.This is the terrible dilemma that Sri Lanka is facing today. It is as simple and in the same strain as complex as that.  
I am not venturing out to the colonial times nor am I intent upon tracing this tale to our ancient kings. History books have taught us immeasurably on this aspect of our story as a collective body of Lankans. However much it has been exaggerated in our Great Chronicle - the Mahawansa - the chronological order of historical events and their influence on our psyche, once the floral embellishments are picked out, the Mahawansa is a brilliant and accurate record of the Kings and Queens and men and women who ruled our country. Yet an objective chronicling of the contemporary times is possible as a recording of events but to opine about the events and their eventual consequences is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Against such a challenging backdrop, an analysis of those who were at the helm of our governing machinery since Independence in 1948 becomes harder than one would think.
D. S. Senanayake, our first Prime Minister elected by a majority of the people on a first-past-the-post system stands out as the most astute political leader we had since 1948. A man whose formal education was below par, with no degree either a Bachelor or Masters, he governed the most educated Cabinet of Ministers ever. His first Cabinet consisted of the following: JR Jayewardene, an Advocate of the Supreme Court, Dudley Senanayake, a Cambridge graduate, Sir Lalitha Rajapaksa, a Barrister, Sir John Kotalawala, a Cambridge University scholar, SWRD Bandaranaike, an Oxford University scholar, E. A. Nugawela, a Major of the Ceylon Light Infantry, C. Suntheralingam, a scholar par excellence, George E. de Silva, an eminent lawyer, Sir Oliver Goonatilleke, a reputed Auditor General during the colonial era, A. Ratnayake, a Cooperative Executive, C. Sittampalam, a Civil Servant, T. B. Jayah, an educationist, and Sir Senarath Gunawardene, a diplomat and a politician from State Council days. The entire Cabinet, including DS, consisted of 14 in number! DS presided over the most educated Cabinet in Ceylon since Independence. While all others were gifted with talent and education, DS was the wisest of them all.  
Wisdom is not attributed to all bright and smart men and women. That rare quality or exceptional human condition called wisdom is a product of experience and a combine of stoicism, judgement and common sense (‘street-smartness’) tempered by patience. In that context, DS Senanayake was the only political leader who was wise. All his Cabinet members, except JR, A. Ratnayake and Nugawela, were educated abroad, either at Oxford or Cambridge. Yet, the so-called ‘uneducated’ DS dominated the national conversation, both as a practical leader and a true patriot. His interaction with the masses was unmatched and his authenticity could not be repeated by any successive leader in Ceylon. The only leader who was close to his authenticity was his son Dudley Senanayake. Unfortunately for Sri Lankans, there was no encore; empathy, yes, but authenticity, no.
Days of educated men and women crowding the corridors of Parliament are a matter of history now. The proportional representative system of electing Members of Parliament has resulted in distorting the notion of popularity and those who could afford to spend the most amounts of cash in organizing massive advertising on television and print media are more successful than those educated ones who could afford a bare minimum on an election campaign. The cycle begins with this ugly spending spree. Once they get into Parliament, they start making money in whatever means, legal or illegal, ethical or unethical, moral or immoral, right or wrong. They need that money to spend for their next campaign. This cyclical dynamic has played a dreadful role in our political existence. It has captured not only our immediate interest; it has managed to grip our intellectual capacity, if we have any, and stifled it to near evaporation. So, in the absence of that intellectual capacity to differentiate between disparate choices, we become mere pawns in the hands of even a below-average chess player.  
The writer can be contacted at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com  

Shooting at Hikkaduwa - 2 dead

May 23, 2017

Two individuals were killed as a result of a shooting that took place near the Divisional Secretariat Office of Hikkaduwa.

Police stated that the shooting had occurred at approximately 4.00 pm today (23), inside a printing press in the proximity of the Divisional Secretariat Office.

The two gun-shot victims were reportedly admitted to the Karapitiya Hospital for treatment, where they succumbed to their injuries shortly after.

According to the Police, two individuals had arrived in a motorcycle, entered the building housing the printing press, and proceeded to shoot two people within the building before fleeing the scene.

The Hikkaduwa Police stated that investigations were currently ongoing.

The victims were both revealed to be residents of Dodamduwa by the names of Thushan Dhanuddara and Sujith Himal, aged 26 and 34 years respectively.

The corpses have been deposited at the Karapita Hospital’s mortuary.

Police stated that the motive for the shooting has not yet been inferred.

Crop compensation delayed – Farmers take to the streets

May 23, 2017

The compensation of Rs. 10,000 per month the government promised to pay for the farmer community that could not engage in their cultivation due to the drought that prevailed during the past several seasons has not been paid for many farmers says the National Organizer of All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation Namal Karunaratna. He said protest campaigns would be launched throughout the country from tomorrow (24th) against the failure of the government to pay compensation for farmers.

Mr. Karunaratna said this at a press conference held by the All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation at Dambulla yesterday.

A large number of representatives of farmer associations were present.

‘Poverty elimination’ by handing over Uva-Wellassa land to a US company

May 23, 2017

Ministers of the ‘Yahapaalana’ government has given approval to cabinet paper MDE/AD/03/CAB-PA/2017 to hand over 62,500 acres from Uva-Wellassa to the Gazelle Ventures of Singapore, through its parent company, the New York-based multinational company CDVCA, to cultivate sugarcane. The official handover will take place on June 05 and president Maithripala Sirisena, as the minister of environment, has signed the relevant cabinet paper.

The cabinet paper says the Bibile sugar company development project will be launched in 2017, carried out in an expeditious manner for its commercial operations to be launched before December 2019 in order to eliminate poverty by creating sustainable economic prosperity for the people of Rambaken Oya special economic area under the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority.

The local agent for the project is the notorious MS Holdings, which attempted previously too, to swindle land of the area for a sugarcane project. It had to abandon its plan, made in 2006 with Britain’s Booker Tate, due to public protests.

The present government has learnt a lesson from those past incidents and has given a humanitarian face when handing over land to the multinational company. Accordingly, the land will not be leased to the company directly. Ten thousand farmer families will be chosen from the area and each will be given 2.5 hectares, with the main condition being that they should cultivate sugarcane in two hectares and sell the produce to the company. On one hand, the government plans to negate the opposition from the public and on the other, the US company will bear no direct responsibility for the land. The land has already been earmarked for the project, mostly the land belonging to the Galoya national park and in its immediate vicinity, which are elephant habitats.

The Pelwatte, Hingurana, Kantale sugar projects have only created problems for the country, including elephant-human conflicts and loss of habitats to the wild animals.  Coordinator of the Environment and Nature Study Centre Dr. Ravindra Kariyawasam says around 40 humans and more than 60 elephants are killed every year due to the conflict following the destruction of forests for these projects. The people of Uva-Wellassa too, will have to suffer similarly, he says.

Furthermore, sugarcane cultivations need a huge amount of water (2,980,000 litres for the 62,500 acres) and Uva-Wellassa, already faced with a water shortage, will become a desert, he warns. “There is no proper plan on how the water requirement can be fulfilled. So, the water presently being used for farming and drinking purposes will have to be used for this project. Then, an acute water shortage is unavoidable within a very short period. For example, it has been found that Maharashtra state in India has run dry due to sugarcane cultivations. Sugarcane cultivations had to be abandoned in Mysore and Bagalkot areas. Also, academics from Sao Paulo University in Brazil have found that Paulo River and the valley are in danger of being run dry due to sugarcane cultivations.”

The project will also lose many rare flora and fauna species to the country. With a history of a very rich vegetation, this area is home to a large number of herbal plants. Marshland, savanna and grasslands will also be destroyed, he says. The area is home to the indigenous spotted deer, bear, leopard and more than 36 mammal species and over 150 species of birds, as well as hitherto unidentified animal species.

The previous rulers abandoned their plans in the face of public opposition, but now the ‘Yahapaalana’ government has given a humanitarian face to it to allow multinational companies to swindle the country’s land. The government washes its hands off after handing over the land to the people, who will have to shoulder the responsibility of the arising problems. They are being used as a shield to handover land to multinational companies. Previously-uncultivated land is the best for sugarcane cultivations, which then render the land barren. Multinational companies squeeze the richness out of the land, just like squeezing the juice out of the sugarcane, and only the barren land will be left to us.

Countries like Brazil and India have carried out research on environmental damage due to sugarcane cultivations and are distancing themselves from such cultivations and driving multinational companies out of their countries. Here, what the government is doing is allowing multinational companies to prey on fertile land in the name of eliminating poverty.

Upul Nishantha

Why do agricultural value chains fail? Part V: Incentives to exploit 

Wednesday, 24 May 2017

Introduction

Farming is better when it is done collectively. Collaboration might happen between farmers, traders and agricultural extension officers. The collaborations can be at different strength levels, for example in some farmer communities the relationship and the collaboration between the farmers and the agriculture extension officer is very weak, while in some communities the officer is always welcome to farmer households. All these relationships are supposed to help farmers to uplift their livelihoods.

Farmers who do collective cultivation can influence buyers and demand for a better price. They can help to eliminate supply shortages and control quality when cultivate together. However, collaborations and relationships among farmers, traders and agriculture extension officers sometimes leads to situations where farmers are being used as instruments for the betterment of the agriculture extension officer and the trader.

While farmers do get some benefits out of such cases, the major benefits are for the other party. Some of these situations are inevitable and being controlled by the particular characteristics of the value chain. However it is interesting to evaluate these cases from an economic point of view. Therefore the aim of the article is to look at some of the cases where collaboration and relationships among the actors of the value chain have put farmers at a disadvantage.

My references are based on the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) value chain. Things I want to focus on are (1) agriculture extension officers becoming middlemen in the agricultural value chain, (2) agriculture extension officers becoming farmers (3) and agriculture extension officers controlling the farming decision.

Why farmers and other actors in the value chain engage in collaborative actions and relationships can be explained using the economic theory of “incentives”. In the examples discussed in this article the central question being asked is whether the incentives are being used to exploit the farmers and the value chain. 

Agriculture extension officers becoming middlemen in the agricultural value chain

The role of the agricultural extension officer is simply to advice and guide farmers throughout their cultivation cycle so that they make a successful harvest and sale. In order to do this the extension officers are given a proper training and most of them are agricultural graduates or diploma holders. They are supposed to be spending lot of time in the field, visiting farmers advising and guiding them. They are supposed to be at their office on all Wednesdays and are free to travel to farm fields and meetings on other days.

Extension officers most of the time go beyond their limits and try to help farmers. They sometimes link farmers with the input suppliers such as seed, plants and fertiliser suppliers. They also try to link farmers with the buyers. In the export value chain that I am taking here the buyers are the vegetable collectors and exporters.

In the GAP value chain the extension officers most of the time try to link farmers with the vegetable collectors and exporters. In this situation, the incentives for the extension officer to help farmers are:

(1) Administrative incentives: Advising and guiding farmers is the occupational responsibility of the agriculture extension officer. Therefore he must fulfil his employment responsibilities in order to maintain the employed status. His performance evaluations are based on his collaborations with the farmers and the number of initiatives he has taken, for example training and awareness programs. Hence it is clear that administrative incentives motivate agricultural extension officers to keep close collaborations and relationships with farmers.

(2) Social incentives: Being an agricultural graduate one would expect the agriculture extension officer to have a genuine interest in agriculture, therefore the probability is high for him to establish collaborations and relationship with farmers to see the growth in the agriculture sector. At the same time as a socially-responsible person one would expect the agriculture extension officer to help the farmers to become better at cultivation so that they can at the end of the day come out of poverty.

(3) Reputational incentives: My experience in the field has clearly shown that agriculture extension officers are held in high regard by the farmers (most of the time). I have been to farmer meetings where farmers would refuse to begin the meeting unless the agriculture extension officer is there. For some young farmers older extension officers are a farther figure. All these elements define the character of the extension officer and would elevate his reputation among farmers and other stakeholders in the value chain. Therefore an agriculture extension officer would develop close collaborations and relationships with other stakeholders in the value chain to enhance his reputation.

In my argument an agricultural extension officer who works in a value chain with a standard job description has only the above incentives to work closely with farmers and other stakeholders of the value chain. However the particular value chain at discussion is different. The GAP value chain would require a closer collaboration and relationships with its stakeholders. In order to understand those, we need to be clear on the GAP value chain. The GAP value chain produces fruits and vegetables for the EU market. The production/cultivation process has to be closely monitored by the agriculture extension officer.

The agriculture extension officer monitors and approves every step of the cultivation. After an audit the agriculture extension officer’s officer would issue a “GAP certificate” so that the farmer can export his produce to the EU. There are intermediate certifications as well where farmers can obtain a temporary certificate to export from the quarantine office based on the agriculture extension officer’s recommendations. Whether it is the temporary certification or the full GAP certification, the agriculture extension officer holds the full discretion power to approve both. The exporter will receive the harvest from the farmer only if the certification is there.

Therefore this particular value chain would bring different incentives to the agriculture extension officer. And those are the (4) Economic incentives: The agriculture extension officer or the GAP officer holds the ability to bring in a farmer to the GAP value chain (basically by introducing the GAP concepts and then approving the farmer’s application). Then the GAP officer holds the ability to keep the farmer in the cultivation process, basically by advising farmer and monitoring his progress in adhering to GAP standards. Finally the agriculture extension officer holds the ability to make sure that farmer has a buyer.

The exporters work closely with the agriculture extension officer than with farmers. Most of the time the farmers do not have a clear idea who buys their produce. Rather the agriculture extension officer would contact the farmer and would introduce an exporter to the buyer. In most cases there is little room for the farmer to negotiate prices, rather the agriculture extension officer would directly convey the price information to the farmer.

There are instances where the agriculture extension officer would come to the field with the exporter and take the harvest away and later would bring the payments to the farmer on behalf of the exporter. These close relationships with the exporters and the farmers are based on the way that the GAP value chain is set up. The structure does not allow the agriculture extension officer to involve one time in the cultivation or the certification process, rather it happens every cultivation season. Therefore the situation presents many opportunities for the agriculture extension officer to become a middleman and become a rent seeker in the value chain in addition to the advisor role. 

In order to remove the possibility of the agriculture extension officer becoming a middleman in the GAP value chain, the following actions are possible:

(1) Make the certification process a one-time activity: The intermediate certification issues by the quarantine department is only valid for couple of weeks in a season. The GAP certificate is valid for more than one cultivation season based on the crop. Therefore the constant involvement of the agriculture extension officer is needed to approve the intermediate and GAP certificate to the farmer.

(2) Establish a traceability system to the individual farmer level: At the moment the exporter can recognise the produce by the agriculture extension officer level. Several farmers would send their produce to one exporter under the signature of a one agriculture extension officer. Therefore if the harvest is rejected, the exporter informs that to the agriculture extension officer first where he will identify the responsible farmer. Then the rejection information will be communicated to the farmer via the agriculture extension officer. This is not an efficient traceability system. If a proper traceability system is in place where the exporter can directly identify the particular farmer then the need for the agriculture extension officer to take the harvest to the exporter and then identify the farmer when produce is rejected is not there anymore. An efficient traceability system would eliminate the chances for an agriculture extension officer to become a middleman and extract rents.

(3) Disclose the exporter information to the farmer (may be though an online platform): In the beginning of the GAP value chain there were only a handful of farmers. Therefore exporters had to obtain farmer information from the agriculture extension officer to find harvest. This process did not change as the farmer list grew. Exporters stuck with their initial suppliers and contacted them directly. However when additional harvest is needed exporters relay on the agriculture extension officer hence they became the middleman. One would suggest to publish the farmer information on an online platform possibly in the website of the department of agriculture. This would not work since the lists with the Department of Agriculture are outdated and the latest lists and information is only with the relevant agriculture extension officers. Therefore the Department of Agriculture should first collect all the information on farmers and then publish then on the website. This information can also be shared with other stakeholders in the value chain like the “fruit and vegetable exporters association”. At the same time, farmers should also be given access to the information on exporters. It is surprising to see some of the farmers are do not have a clue where their exporters are, they do not have a contact number, address, contact person and not even an invoice.

Agriculture extension officers becoming farmers

Though the primary role of the agriculture extension officer is to advice and guide farmer on cultivation and sale, they are not prohibited from becoming farmers themselves. In fact most agricultural extension officers are farmers. This is justifiable since they have the necessary knowledge, access to training and awareness and sometimes the resources as well. However one might argue that this is a perfect situation for “conflict of interest” (a situation in which a person is in a position to derive personal benefit from actions or decisions made in their official capacity).

This is exactly what happens in the GAP value chain. GAP value chain is focused on EU hence attracts a higher price. For example 1 kg of bitter gourd would be around Rs. 60-100 in the local market (this can fluctuate, these are the current average prices). However 1 kg of the same cultivated under the GAP program would yield around Rs. 250-300 per 1 kg. Therefore there are enough economic incentives to adopt the GAP program when other necessary inputs are in place. Agriculture extension officers can use their official capacities to find input markets, obtain certifications and buyers. 

There are, as mentioned above, several main benefits for an agricultural extension officer if he becomes a farmer in the GAP value chain:

(1) Access to inputs and other facilities: Agriculture extension officers are in better contacts with the seed companies therefore it is possible for them to get better quality seeds possibly at a lower price. Agriculture extension officers are responsible for suggesting seed sellers to farmers, therefore seed companies are in a position to favour the agriculture extension officer turned farmer.

The perfect example is the recent viral outbreak in the GAP value chain for bitter gourd. This outbreak affected all the cucurbits farmers in the country who are under the GAP program. Farmers claim that the seeds were of bad quality. The Department of Agriculture did testing but was not conclusive. The seed companies claim that the viral outbreak is a result of the soil and other climatological conditions of the country. At the end of the day many farmers lost their harvest repeatedly, and the only recommendation by the agriculture extension officers was not to buy seeds from the particular affected (farmers claim that seeds are affected and most agriculture extension officers are in agreement with them) seed lot.

Obviously farmers are not insured hence encountered enormous losses due to this viral outbreak. However agricultural extension officers who became farmers exhibit less economic damages since the seed companies compensated them (they got fertiliser for future cultivations as a compensation for the damages).

(2) Access to exporters: Agriculture extension officers are in constant contacts with the exporters. Therefore they have enough opportunity to build a better relationship with the exporters. Hence once the harvesting is done the agricultural extension officer has the capacity to sell what they produce without any difficulty. This will probably limit the chance of another farmer.

In addition, agriculture extension officers who become farmers are in a better position to get the payments in time from exporters. There are many farmers who are still waiting for their money from exporters and collectors. Once these farmers (who are agriculture extension officers as well) sell their produce to exporters, it leaves less room for a regular farmer and most of the time they have to accept a very low price.

An agriculture extension officer would become a farmer so that he could extract economic rents by doing so. Therefore his incentives for such actions are economic incentives: if there isn’t any rule stating that the agriculture extension officers can’t become farmers in the same value chain that they work on, then the GAP value chain is similar to an “open access resource”.

In such a metaphor, the agriculture extension officer is just another farmer who tries to profit from participating in a value chain. The difference is that he, in this case, is equipped with better relationships and better information and has the comparative advantage to extract the highest economic rents. In this situation it will be hard to control agriculture extension officers becoming farmers unless a condition is put in place preventing them becoming so. Or otherwise one would expect the agriculture extension officers to be fair in the game and not exploit the opportunities of farmers with their comparative advantage (here I am being too optimistic). 

Agriculture extension officers controlling

farming decisions

In most cases farmers are capable of deciding what they want to cultivate, when to cultivate and how to cultivate. This is with many years of experiences and advices and guidance from agriculture extension officers. However, in any other value chain it is quite possible that the farming decisions are been taken by evaluating all possible information and advice. Farmers in other value chains might probably be using the advices of the agriculture extension officers but at the same time might be using their own decision-making power as well. One would argue why this is not possible in the GAP value chain. After all farmers are cultivating on their own lands and buying inputs using their own money. But as explained earlier, the structure of the GAP value chain prevents farmers from taking independent decisions on cultivations, rather they rely on the agriculture extension officer too much. I will explain this further.

As explained before agriculture extension officers are responsible for making sure that farmers adhere to GAP standards, recommending temporary quarantine certificate and the full GAP certificate and connecting farmers with the exporters. All these activities give discretion power to the agriculture extension officer to influence farmers to cultivate a particular crop.

For example the GAP program started with cucurbits but now been expanded to other crops. There are other export value chains that focus on Middle Eastern countries and Maldives (especially leafy vegetables, beans and gherkins). There are cases where farmers are been suggested to cultivate crops that are linked to these parallel export value chains rather than the GAP value chain when clearly the demand for GAP-related vegetables exists. One would argue that this does not bring any externalities since farmers will be anyway cultivating and getting money from other value chains as well. However the problem is that:

(1) GPA value chain attracts the highest market price compared to other value chains

(2) Department of Agriculture has invested money and human resources in building the GPA value from the scratch hence it will be a lost opportunity to use those resources for another value chain and

(3) The department has plans to expand the GPA program for more fruits and vegetables that are export-oriented and local-oriented as well.

There are cases where farmers have given up the GPA value chain altogether and shifted to other export value chains under the direct influence of the agriculture extension officers. In some cases the agriculture extension officer has not only influenced the farmers to adopt a different value chain but also has become the middleman/collector in the value chain. Again there isn’t a written rule that an agriculture extension officer can’t become a middleman/collector, however the issue is the problem of conflict of interest.

In order to address this issue one needs to understand the incentives behind the actions by the agriculture extension officer. The incentives for him here are economic incentives: As already mentioned, the extension officer controls major components of the GPA value chain including the most important component, the link between the farmer and the exporter. Therefore it presents enough opportunities for him to convince farmers to cultivate what would yield economic rents rather than to the farmers.

His advice to the farmer would be “cucurbits do not have a demand these days, therefore please cultivate something else”. This will be a genuine piece of advice for a farmer who is dependent on the agriculture extension officer to find an export market. What should happen is that a farmer be given enough information to decide on what he should cultivate rather than fully relying on the agriculture extension officer who has incentives to exploit economic rents.

If a farmer is deciding by himself after consulting the agriculture extension officers, exporters and his opportunity cost of production, then it will be a production decision based on the market information. This should be the ideal decision-making process.

(Dr. Chatura Rodrigo is an agriculture economist. He can be contacted through chatura_rodrigo@yahoo.com, and

94 77 986 7007).