Ousted Agriculture Secretary predicts food shortage in April

By Rathindra Kuruwita

All evidence indicated that there would be a shortage of food by April and he was only pointing at the obvious, just-ousted secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture Prof. Udith K. Jayasinghe said yesterday.

Jayasinghe said that only a miracle would prevent such a shortage unless the country took urgent steps to avert it.

“Food security and sovereignty are two of my main areas of research. If I can’t make an obvious forecast there is no point in my expertise. President Rajapaksa himself has told me that educating the people is one of my responsibilities,” he said.

The former secretary said that the government should tell people the truth and take concrete steps to prepare the public to face a period of crisis.

“We have to warn the people now. There is no point in waiting till March 2022 and say that we are in trouble. It will be too late. We must warn farmers and the consumers and to take precautions and make use of the the next three months to ensure that there won’t be any shortages. This is why I said that there will be a shortage, I was not trying to undermine the government,” he said.

Prof. Jayasinghe said that doctors often warned of possible health crises and when such warnings were given the government and the community took certain steps to prevent adverse outcomes. When one looked at the extent of agricultural lands and the quality of farms, it was obvious that there would be a drop in the yield.

“You don’t blame doctors for warning about dengue. There is no point in blaming me for telling the obvious. The people know the truth, only pen pushers might want to hide this,” he said.

Prof. Jayasinghe added that he had not been informed why he had been removed from his post, and his successor, D. M. L. D. Bandaranaike, was a colleague of his.

“I feel bad about being removed from the post because I have spent a lot of time making certain adjustments. During meetings with the Minister of Agriculture we often discussed the matter of food shortages. Apart from the people who want to pretend otherwise, everyone knows we are headed for a crisis,” he said.