When Ceylon Tobacco went into agriculture with Navajeevana at Alutharama

By ACB Pethiyagoda

In 1965 the late Hon. Dudley Senanayake, Prime Minister, introduced a Special Leases Scheme whereby several thousand acres of virgin jungle land in the Mahiyangana area were leased out to 19 companies for agricultural development. Several of them were then well known plantation management companies and the others were in other businesses. These organizations cleared vast tracts of jungle without proper plans for development but seized the opportunity to take away millions of cubic feet of valuable timber.

Many companies are said to have lapped up a lot of gravy from this exercise; a social crime of huge magnitude where the land was totally cleared of the forest cover and consequently left bare and exposed to winds to blow and rains to wash away the invaluable top soil.

A friend, Mr. Maher Siriwardena’s article in a recent issue of The Island’s Saturday Magazine describes events up to this stage of development or better described as destruction of the land. In a more recent issue of the Sat Mag Mr. I.K. Weerawardena writes that by the time System C of the Mahaweli Accelerated Programme commenced in the 1980s all that was found in the leased lands were abandoned camps sites. The purpose of this writing is to show that all was not lost.

Ceylon Tobacco Co. which always took its social responsibilities seriously was one of the lessors which kept faith with the Prime Minister. Drawing on its experience in the development of thousands of tobacco growers, both in the Wet and Dry Zones, it planned carefully with the guidance of some of the most experienced men in the country in the area of land development and colonist settlement. The Company commenced clearing the land leaving out in selected areas large blocks as wind breaks, natural spring reservations and sources of fuel wood for future colonists.

Mr. J.M. Burditt was Chairman of the Company when operations commenced while the greater part of its development period came under the purview of Mr. S.V. Wanigasekara the first Sri Lankan Chairman of the Company. The Company named the project Mahiyangana Colonisation Scheme (MCS) or Navajeevana (New Life).

This writer came on the scene in 1972 overlooking the activities of MSC in addition to his duties in the Leaf Division of the Company in Kandy. By this time about 60 colonists were already settled. Their cottages and in addition all ancillary buildings offices, workshops, stores, staff quarters were built with brick burnt at site and timber from the felled trees. Some timber was also stored for future use thus none of it was taken away.

It was a period of transition like between a war and peace which has its own problems. By that time the United Front Government (SLFP and the old left) was in power and with it came difficulties arising from the severe lack of foreign exchange (FOREX for short) which was felt even in far away Alutharama, the ancient village nearest to MCS.

The most serious problems were due to strict import restrictions resulting in the lack of spares for the dozens of tractors and numerous items of other allied machinery which were made available on hire to the colonists for land preparation and maintenance of the infrastructure. The colonists’ cottages were provided with electric lighting for three hours in the evening and one hour in the morning with Perkins diesel generators.

Water for irrigation, domestic and other uses by about 2,000 persons was lifted from the Mahaweli (one boundary of the leased land) at the rate of 200,000 gallons per hour with three giant Pulsometer pumps powered by equally big Lister generators. This was supplemented with water from the restored ancient irrigation tank (later called CTC wewa) located in the jungle land reserved for future expansion

For the resident staff in the Scheme it was a period of making do with the available facilities which were fast dwindling and oft times a period of helplessness in the face of mounting complaints from equally helpless and sometimes angry colonists whose programmes for cultural operations had to meet seasonal deadlines and they were unable to do so due to unserviceable machinery; every possibility of `canibalisation’ having been long over.

The more serious of these situations were conveyed to me for what assistance the Leaf Department’s Engineer, the late Mr. Gamin Tammita, or the Supplies Division could give. Our constant fear was that if the water supply broke down a catastrophe of major proportions would result with all the good work done in the past being brought to naught. The search for spares covered all the towns in the Province and further away.

For our good fortune a not very well known supplier in Ratmalana who was traced somehow produced the spares for faulty parts for the Pulsometers and Perkins generators. Mr. Wanigasekera, the very pragmatic Chairman, being well aware of these difficulties had answers. He directed that facilities we could not continue to provide be withdrawn due to a situation where the Company had no control. He wanted the exercise carried out in stages to ensure the least inconvenience to the colonists with the ultimate objective being to develop a sense of self reliance among them and free themselves of dependence on the Company a difficult exercise if ever there was one in social engineering at the time.

With Nihal Perera, Edison Kumarage and others at the site facing the explosive situation this delicate operation was carried out with tact and diplomacy. The first to go was the electric lighting which the colonists themselves did not value very much. Instead each family was gifted a Petromax kerosene lamp. The recipients valued this change as the lamps apart from domestic use could also be taken to the threshing floors, watch huts and even on short journeys at night in the vicinity.

With hardly any items of serviceable machinery for land preparation the facility was gradually withdrawn with the offer of cash to each family to purchase a pair of buffaloes. With manual ploughing remarkable increases in paddy yields were recorded in some fields. (Would deep penetration of disc harrows and tine tillers bringing up the sub soil and taking down the nutrient rich top soil to levels beyond the reach of the feeding roots of the crop be the answer?)

The colony had a school, bakery, tailor shops, dry provisions stores, smithy; owners of which were originally selected for their skills in these areas to make the community as self sufficient as possible.

However, it lacked a much needed dispensary with the nearest being some 15 miles away at Mahiyangana.

A suitable building from the developmental stage was selected, refurbished and arrangements made fora visiting Apothecary from Mahiyangana. Hearing of these arrangements a local politician of considerable standing in the area indicated his wish to be present at the formal opening. There was snag. He was an ex-employee of CTC who had left under a cloud, a heavy one at that. He was known to be vindictive and loud mouthed and therefore was certainly not the most welcome visitor.

However, a conciliatory approach was decided on although with considerable apprehension. The ceremony went off without a hitch and our concern was in vain as the man would not stop repeating that the colonists must have gained a great deal of merit in their past births to now be associated with CTC officials like us! So the saying that the last resort of the scoundrel is politics is not always true – at least our man had a touch of magnanimity.

(The writer of This article published some years ago, the late ACB Pethiyagoda, a senior planter who after retirement from plantation management joined the Ceylon Tobacco Co Ltd.)