How agriculture sector was ruined

I have read with great interest your publication (12/10) an interesting article titled, The Vision Splendid of DS Senanayake.

Prime Minister DS did a great deal for agriculture by opening up land and launching colonisation schemes. Later his son, Dudley followed in his footsteps, and Sri Lanka even became self-sufficient in paddy our staple crop. DS even developed the Marketing Department activities with its vegetable and fruit purchasing scheme much to the benefit of the farming community. Today, all that is gone. The Marketing Department was abolished by President J. R. Jayewardene. The abolition of the Paddy Lands Act there has led to a situation where there are no farmer organisations to organise paddy cultivation. The World bank in about 1979 stepped in and forbade all agricultural officers to use people’s organisations like cultivation committees to organise cultivation. That was the Training and Visit System, which was offered to all governments with a fund package, giving funds to the government if they implemented it. We embraced it and the extension service has not been functioning. Further President Ranasinghe Premadasa promoted all Agricultural Overseers at the village level as Grama Niladharis and since then till now there has no agricultural extension system at the village level. Directors of Agriculture and Ministers in charge of the subject do not seem aware that agricultural extension service is dead.

Garvin Karunaratne

Former GA Matara.