In today's Sunday Times, there was a very forceful statement by the above MP who represents the Gampaha District for the UPFA under the JHU, which was that "Agrochemical Terrorism was worse than LTTE terrorism".If one looks at the history of some of the International Agro Chemical Behemoths, such as Archer Daniels Midland, Monsanto, Cargill they have engaged in skillful ...
There was an extremely useful commentary today on page 8 of the Island Newspaper (July 22nd) by the biodiversity and "analog forestry" expert Dr Ranil Senanayake a grandson of Mr FR Senanayake with the above caption. It is very unfortunate that the very logical and practical suggestions made by him does not get sufficient prominence in especially the Sinhala media ...
Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology, (CKDUE) is a huge problem in the North Central Province but also to a lesser degree in the North Western Province and Uva Province as well. There are various studies being carried out by both state and non state sectors to find the cause of this as it is a debilitating disease that leads ...
I just had a chat on the phone with my fellow neighboring farmers in the Hingurakgoda area and they tell me a new tale out of Alice in Wonderland. So I just repeat what I heard and the reader should determine its likelihood, but the farmers firmly believe this story, which when it passes from one mouth to the ...
If you go into any agricultural faculty in Sri Lanka, both the teaching staff and students have a female majority. This is good if you see women in all sorts of farming in Sri Lanka, but I have yet to see that fact reflected in the actual workforce.What does that mean? Are we educating these people at enormous expense for ...
It is timely that the Academics attached to the Faculty of Science disassociated themselves from their Dean, Professor Nalin de Silva, effectively relegating him to the role of a charlatan.It is disgraceful for one to reach up to the skies in making a scientific explanation and therefore I hope this mess is put to bed once and for all. I ...
Today's (3rd July 2011) Lankadeepa, page 4 of the 'Thaksalava' section has two related but quite different issues relating agriculture and the current debate. The first article on the top half is showing the benefit of a paddy field cultivated completely on the traditional principles, without any use of pesticides and weedicides, with an old variety of rice called 'kalu ...
There are many cases I can refer to in my practical experience and the latest was the threat a harmless homeless person had to undergo when he was given a job.My sister and I share adjoining properties in Hingurakgoda, and she recently found a person from the South who just wanted a job, with a place to stay, and was ...
It is preposterous for a senior minister in government to say that the above program will uplift the lives of one million households. Just think about the logic. They are supposed to provide the basics, so that households will become self sufficient in many areas including food production, but also on livelihood development. This if one takes a five person ...
The small people like us who go shopping for vegetables ( I am still in crutches) will know how low the price of Tomato has fallen to. While it is not that cheap at Food City, it is down to Rs20 if I buy a kilo or more at the Pola.So now I can have tomato soup and tomato with ...
I was in conversation with some elders recently about the whole land reform process in the early seventies, where each couple were restricted to 50 acres of land, and the excess taken over by the state. In fact the veritable World Bank had advised that due to the excessively unproductive performance of the estates of a few thousand wealthy ...
After a tumultuous period where we had unprecedented rains, and many paddy fields were rendered useless, and further the rain that came once again, put paid to a good harvest. The latter was as a result of the flowering period being disrupted by rain that prevented the paddy seed from forming. Farmers therefore were left in the lurch.I am hoping ...
It was an extremely difficult year in my agricultural endeavors, and if not for supplementing my income from additional work in Colombo, I could not have made it. It was another year of disappointing harvests, with a fresh round of crises. Upon analysis of this year’s problems, the key was one of lack of discipline and not following specific instructions. ...
We in Sri Lanka have not yet been able to distinguish fact from fiction in the food production dilemma. There was a time, when it was thought that we should not bother with growing any food, as other people can do it better and cheaper, so lets do what it is that we can do better, and effectively let all ...
Today’s papers announced the establishment of a high powered Cabinet Sub-Committee on Cost of Living, chaired by the President, with 15 Cabinet Ministers and including the Prime Minister. Concurrent to this following on from the import of Chicken and Eggs recently announced, they have imposed price controls on Rice, the single most essential ingredient in the diet of the average ...
I have read so many recent articles about the effort to increase Milk production in SL and if one were to believe what is published one would be very optimistic about its future. The reality however yet again is somewhat different. Why is it that we in SL have so many schemes and so much talk, with very little action. ...
I rarely email or use my Facebook, so the longest absence from any web entries was just an unplanned occurrence. I hope I will have the time to keep up. Life goes on from one eventful day to the next, where there is never a dull moment. The unexpected always happens ...
The economical agricultural unit is changing rapidly due to the multi phased changes in our society. They range from a severe shortage of labor prepared to work in agriculture, with few young people even contemplating farming, to changes in demographics, and expectations, as a resul
A MATURE FRUIT WEIGHING ABOUT A KILO JUST PLUCKED NEEDS ABOUT 3 DAYS TO RIPENSour sop with a Latin name of Annona muricata has suddenly hit the news lately due to the claims that it is 1000 times stronger than Chemotherapy for cancer patients and cancer fighting agents.I am being in
As I am in an enterprise, where I grow and deliver my produce to customers who then consume them, I am in the unenviable position of having to explain if I can even do that, about a various range of questions to do with my produce, as my customers are critical and picky and want to know the whys and ...
