by Aruna Weerakoon
(September 13, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The President, in his address at the event launching the Farmer’s Week and the opening of the Chamal Rajapaksa Agro Technology Park in Bata-atha, Hambanthota last week made a call for the younger generation of the farming community to engage in agricultural activity. It is understandable that he should make the distinction between the older and the younger generation, which reaches out for seed and other materials that provide high productivity. It is not merely a question of the cost of seed, to which you have drawn attention in a valuable recent editorial. Whilst it is correct that these should be at an affordable price, equal emphasis needs to be made on higher productivity.
I am encouraged to address this letter to you on the subject of seed by the fact that the Deputy Director of the Field Crop Research and Development Institute has made it known that the institute has introduced Hybrid varieties and that it will provide basic seed to farmers for the next Maha season
As further encouragement I wish to make it known by this letter that the private sector, dealing primarily in the hybrid seed category has, with emphasis on high productivity seed, achieved a degree of success that can result in the export also of Sri Lankan produce if the facilities for export, both in storage and markets are made available. This, as at present, has to be a provision made by the appropriate governmental authorities. It must be mentioned that the Treasury and its dynamic top official has been very understanding and helpful providing maximum concessions on import levies to the seed sector fully realizing the immense potential quality assured highly productive imported seeds have for the country. For the present I wish to state as a person who has been involved in the private seed sector for a period of over 20 years that in the area of cultivation, the private seed sector, with hybrid varieties has achieved remarkably high results.
With regard to cultivation costs too we have seen that the hybrid seed imported in keeping with state regulations by registered and approved Seed Importing companies compete favorably with locally available seed, when the undoubted yield benefits are taken into account.
In Green Chilli for example, the cost per acre for hybrid seed in relation to the total production cost is less than 10% and compares favorably with the locally available seed precisely because the hybrid seed gives a much higher productivity.
We can say the same for hybrid seed for other vegetables such as Luffa (Wetakolu), Pumpkin, Tomato, Cabbage, Bittergourd (Karawila) and several others. Because of the large volume of produce that comes to the market both Wholesale (as in Dambulla) and Retail, the price range can be made affordable to the local consumer and other qualities such as keeping quality, better transportability also make this produce preferred above the produce of local seed. The vegetable marketing system has to be definitely overhauled and improved to give the direct benefit to both the farmer and the consumer. Presently a few middle men are making massive profits with a minimum investment or toil. The efforts of the Minister of Trade to step into this produce marketing should be widely commended and supported by all key stake-holders.
The problem that was faced by farmers in relation to Big Onion seed which triggered your editorial relates to Non Hybrid seed imported from India. India had for some time prohibited the export of this seed from its shores. This restriction has however been lifted on the sole efforts of the Private Seed Sector and has remained so for the past three years. Since then several reputed companies have stepped in to ensure that farmers receive their onion seed in time for the season with all the quality assurance certification. The smuggling of onion seed is also still happening by some individuals who are unable to obtain the necessary Export License from the Indian Authorities. This is issued on a case by case basis as India prefers to export consumption onions to Sri Lanka which is more beneficial to the Indian farmer! I shall not dwell any further on this matter as the focus of this letter is Hybrids and the undoubted fact that they have provided the Sri Lankan Farmer with highly profitable and cost effective varieties that enable him to achieve a standard of productivity that could not have been imagined a mere 10 years before! It should also be stated that the majority of the farmers in our neighboring countries in the region have been using high quality Hybrid seeds for many years and thereby have a major advantage over our farmers. A classic example is our yearly expenditure of Rs. 2.2 to 2.5 billion merely on the import of the dried chilli requirement of the country. The Hybrid seeds which are now available for our progressive farmers are the very same varieties that have been used for many years by the Indian farmer to produce and supply this quantity of dried chilli to our country. It is not impossible to imagine the immense benefit that would accrue to our farmers if a concentrated national effort is undertaken to produce at least a portion of this quantity using the quality assured, highly productive F1 Hybrid seed which are now freely available in the country.
In summation, I wish to make it abundantly clear that the belief held in certain quarters that the Private Seed Sector is only focused on profit and not interested in the well being of the farmer is false and that a significant amount of the development achieved in terms of agricultural productivity in Sri Lanka within the past decade has been a result of the untiring efforts of the companies in this sector. It is time that their efforts were recognized and facilities made available for their services to be extended for the further benefit of the farming community.
The writer is Chairman / Managing Director, Agro-Culture Trends (Pvt) Ltd, President, Seedmens Association of Sri Lanka
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