President stresses need for national plan to ensure food security

President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday said that a national plan should be implemented to ensure food security and nutrition in Sri LankaHe made this observation, addressing the inaugural program for the establishment of the Multi-sector Combined Mechanism for empowering of Rural Economic Revitalization Centers to ensure food security and nutrition.

The programme was held at the Presidential Secretariat. The President pointed out that agriculture can make foreign exchange by enhancing production and competitiveness through the modernization of agriculture.The President emphasized the need to work in an organized and collective manner to solve the food crisis.

“The government has got to face the challenge of provision of food to all since the country is experiencing severe economic distress. The construction sector is experiencing a serious problem and that is causing massive unemployment. Who will look after them? A section of the people can’t afford food and the middle class is disappearing,” he said.

Due to the war in Ukraine, Sri Lanka can’t get the necessary flour supplies, while the floods in Pakistan have destroyed their farming lands. “India has brought the food export to a close while China too has reduced exports. This situation would not come to an end by this December but could last for two years.

Thus, the country would have to face a food crisis. Even the fuel price could rise more in the winter as demand from the west increases. Food should be produced locally. The food security programme was initiated in order to achieve this end,’ he said.The President said that the government has secured USD 200 million for the provision of fertiliser for the Maha season. Another USD 20 million will be enough to provide adequate supplies, he said.

“Discussions are in progress at the Ministerial level to get the seeds for cultivation from countries such as Thailand. There is a shortage of seeds in some areas. When implementing the cultivation programme, we have to be careful. If there is a surplus of harvest the market would crash, so we need to work on storage. There should be a national programme to guarantee food production and the same should be implemented at the Provincial, district and divisional secretariat level with participation of all,” he said.

Officials must work hard to collect the harvest and reduce wastage. Officials will be educated on collection and storage and the necessary assistance should also be provided by the line ministers, he said.

“If the wastage can be reduced by 10 percent I will be happy. A 25 percent reduction in waste can solve most of our problems. There should be a mechanism to store any type of food and the assistance of the private sector must be sought in this endeavour. Provided that all these endeavours are successfull by Maha Season cultivation, the country can come out of the chaotic situation,” he said.

Wickremesinghe said that the Agriculture Modernization Programme must be implemented as soon as possible.

“By the end of 2023, we should get the modernization programme going in full swing. We should earn foreign exchange from agriculture. By 2050, our population will be 25 million. This might be a problem if we don’t modernize agriculture. However, growing populations, not only here but globally, presents many opportunities, in many places, from Saudi Arabia to Indonesia the population will explode. The demand for food will only grow. If we can produce an agricultural surplus, we can sell them and make money.” He said.