It is quite surprising that the United States in ONLY NOW waking up to the fact that weekend gardeners especially in Spring when they begin to clean up and get ready for the new season of flowering, and grass cutting, that they are using 10 times the pesticides and harmful chemicals on their yards, per sq ft than farmers use, ...
Sri Lanka is the world's highest user of Agro Chemicals and Pesticideshttp://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=941481 Is it a wonder that our food costs soo much?2 Is it a wonder that our food is so full of poison?3 Is it a wonder that our food is so overcooked?4 Is it a wonder that we have an exponential increase in cancers?5 Is it a wonder ...
The link below talks of the fact that in the last ten years, Argentina has had 18million hectares, that is three times the surface area of Sri Lanka planted with GM Soya Bean. This GM Soya seed has been produced so it is resistant to Round Up the herbicide, we also use in Sri Lanka to kill all weeds including ...
A Presidential Advisor on agriculture and a former MP and minister, who defected to the UPFA from the UNP, and lost his seat at the last elections, Hemakumara Nanayakkara resigned his post today in disgust at the Government Agricultural Policies or lack of them. He is also the younger brother of Vasudeva Nanayakkara, an MP and leftist!This blog is full ...
The Lakbima newspaper on Sunday carried another article about the Malaysian accredited laboratory that carried out tests on unnamed pesticides sent to it by the Ven Athureliya Rathena, which had confirmed the existence not only of Arsenic, but also of Mercury and Cyanide. Whilst not disputing the accuracy of the results of the said laboratory, one must always qualify this ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
I have been asked by a friend overseas to give him an idea of the costs of rice production in Sri Lanka, to determine if he wants to invest in an agricultural venture to grow paddy. This is like asking the proverbial “how long is a piece of string?” type question.
