Sustainable Agriculture Policy and Development Programme in Sri Lanka

By Dr. Lional Weerakon,
Coordinator of SARD,
(Centre for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Development),
1151/58A, 4th Lane, Kotte Road, Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka.
E-mail: sustainable_sard@yahoo.com

The need for a Sustainable Agriculture Policy

The need for this policy is to have a unified approach, to establish a farming system in Sri Lanka, which is environmentally and economically sustainable and socially just. This will guide a process that would bring about a joint agreement and a consensus among all stake holders in the country, about a common aim and a strategy towards achieving the goals in agriculture. This will also establish a framework that would be necessary to bring about specific agreements and action plans that would be necessary between individual institutions and groups.

The aim of a sustainable agriculture policy

Through a policy of sustainable agriculture conservation of the environmental resources base and its sustainability would be ensured. Further, it would nourish the livelihoods of the rural population and the farming community and would make a positive contribution to the production and productivity in the agricultural sector.

Background

The self sufficient agricultural economy that prevailed in Sri Lanka for thousands of years was cracked by the European imperialists and was transformed into export crop agriculture. Later in the 1960s agriculture became commercialized due to the introduction of green revolution and input dependent agriculture. After 1977 open market policies were chosen as the development process in Sri Lanka this gave priority to export oriented agriculture and the country was made open to imported agricultural products from foreign countries, forcibly.

Traditional Agricultural systems which were a creation of nature thus ended up in a type of farming that was monoculture and depended on external inputs. The basis of green revolution was the use of high yielding seeds and a set of external inputs. This set of external inputs included chemical fertilizer, weedicides, pesticides and irrigated water systems and also use of machinery that ran on fossil fuel.

The plantation crop farming that was introduced by the British penetrated deep into the sensitive ecological systems in the country   Mono crop farming was always its pattern.

Crisis in Agriculture

This evolution has given us detrimental results and has developed into a serious crisis.

The agro ecological systems have depleted and have got polluted due to the negligence of the natural resources base and environment.  The Environmental Authority reports that that 45% of the agricultural land has got seriously eroded.  It has also resulted in the loss of fertility of the land that is used for plantation crops.  As a result of this, there is silting of irrigation and water resources On land that is unmanaged in the seed tea plantations the loss of soil due to erosion has been estimated to be around 40 tons annually. And in the replanting process the soil loss is around 240 Tons. The quantity of nitrate nitrogen in water contained in water has been increasing due to pollution caused by chemical inputs in farming. Methamogbinimea or birth of blue babies, Kidney diseases and over nutrition has been increasing. Due to the efforts made in getting maximum yields using monocrops.  There has been serious impacts on environment and on the economy. AS a result we are fast losing the genetic diversity that we have inherited. The diversity of indigenous agricultural is being lost too.  In the year 2008 the government allocation for fertilizer subsidy was Rs. 25,000 million. Accordingly the allocation for fertilizer subsidy on one hectare is Rs. 50,000.  Pesticides have adversely affected the farmer's health, quality of food while some pests have got accustomed and adopted to the pesticides. The number of deaths caused by pesticide poisoning is very large.   

Since our farmers have been compelled to compete with farmers of countries such as India where farmers are given subsidies the domestic agriculture prices and their production has fallen. The acreage cultivated has fallen down too.  As a result the quantities of agricultural products imported to the country have been increasing.  The foreign exchange spent on these imports has been increasing too. (The foreign exchange spent on food imports in year 1985 was US $ 300 million, in 1998 it was US $ 650 million and at present it has exceeded US $ 1,000 million).  Today 32 % of our food is imported. Also the GDP contribution of agriculture in 1991 was 28% and it decreased down to 19% in 2004 while it dropped further to 12.1 % in 2008.

Another important and a crucial factor that needs to be taken into consideration is that 75% of our population lives in rural areas and that 70% of them have agriculture as their livelihood. The result of the above facts is that 80% of these people live in poverty. Out of the population in Sri Lanka 50.7 % does not receive the daily requirement of 2030 Kilo Calories that a person should receive as food. According to UNICEF reports 29% of the children below the age of five are of less than the required weight. 14% of them are seriously undernourished.

External input dependent agriculture affects the farmer community especially because they have to make a large capital investment to do this agriculture. They also have a risk in their marketing and their profits are marginal.

Therefore they face constant shocks and as a result the inability they have in repaying the debts they obtain they have a constant tendency to leave agriculture systematically. There are frequent occasions when they have to sell their land and become laborers working on the same land.. The young people are leaving agriculture too. Thus, agriculture no longer is a viable economy and it is no longer an effective livelihood.

Sustainable agriculture and its approach  

Due to chemical inputs and due to intensive crop farming the organic content and accumulation and the nutrients are continuously reducing. Due to the minimizing of microbial activity the natural processes of rebuilding of soil fertility has come to a stand still, or it is at a very low level. The environmental system is getting wasted and depleted. The only solution to this problem is to provide the facilities for the biological regeneration of the natural environmental system. By now the whole world has begun to recognize this crisis and begun to show great interest in reestablishing agro ecological systems with high priority given to sustainable agriculture. In this what happens is to give back to nature the ability that it has lost in regenerating itself.  By this process organic matter and the carbon content in the soil gets reaccumulated.   Through this process a suitable environment is recreated for maintaining the productive ability of crops at an optimal level.

In measuring the success of agriculture today, linier measurements are adopted. The measure is to look at the quantity of kilograms or tons of crops that can be obtained as yield from a hectare of land.  Due to this most of the experiments were conducted to almost entirely to breed crop varieties that give higher yields. The objective was to utilize external inputs to get maximum yields. In this the other factors that affect agriculture were ignored, which made agriculture today unsustainable.

Sustainability is a dynamic concept. In this there are three main dimensions that come together. Accordingly, sustainable agriculture is economically viable, socially just and environmentally sustainable. In measuring the success of agriculture all these three dimensions have to be calculated with equal status given to them.

In doing Sustainable Agriculture, natural processes such as recycling of nutrients, fixation of nitrogen, and regeneration of soil and the allowing of the growth of predators that control the pests that damage the productive processes, are integrated into the farming process is one of the objectives.  Another objective is to minimize the use of external inputs that are poisonous, do damage to natural environment, to agriculture and to the consumers equally and those that do not assist the regeneration.( agrochemical fertilizers, weedicides, pesticides, fungicides and fuel run machinery )   Due to this form of agriculture the knowledge and skills of the farmer becomes more meaningful and their creativity finds new opportunities. They receive opportunities to strengthen self confidence and faith in themselves.

Sustainable agriculture produces diversity of food that one needs at home, as well as for the market, simultaneously.  In addition this form of agriculture cleans the environment, prevents pollution of water, and fixes carbon which reduces the quantity of CO-2 let out to the atmosphere and therefore reduces global warming as its direct effects. Additional positive results are the development of a better quality of a global vision and improvement of bio diversity of the farming lands.

There is a report that has been produced by a research carried out by 400 scientists / specialists under the title IAASTD (International Assessment of Agriculture Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development) with backing from FAO, GEF, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, World Bank and WHO (April 14, 2008) According to this research 120 countries of the world there are 31 million hectares of land that is devoted to production of organic food. In addition there are traditional / indeginous farming that collects wild collections of food on 61 million hectares of land.    (Refer annex 1 for other findings of this research report). In addition it is said that this land is rapidly expanding and in 10 years this area has expanded 280 times. Already in countries such as Cuba and Switzerland, sustainable agriculture has been adopted as the agricultural policy of their central governments.  In addition Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, have adopted food sovereignty as the food policy of their governments. Nepal has included Food Sovereignty into its Constitution. Here the main thematic farming is sustainable agriculture.

Present situation of sustainable agriculture in our country

There are about 538 organisations in Sri Lanka that are adopting sustainable agriculture practices. Out of these organisations most have utilized technologies and practices that they have experimented on and have developed. (Annex 2). They use these for rice farming and for vegetable and other crop farming. Further, Indigenous seeds and yams are being conserved. The agricultural research sectors in the country too have carried out a diversity of extremely useful researches into this subject. Several of them have already been made popular among the farmers too. (Annex 3) e.g. Composting, recycling of straw as fertilizer. The National Science Council has summarized 108 of these experimental reports. According to these research documents various sustainable agriculture practices have been experimented on by researchers. (Annex 4) Since the government policy was to promote and encourage Green Revolution technologies there was no acceptance given to these researches. Neither was there any encouragement given to such experimentation.

Principles of practices related to sustainable agriculture

1. There is no releasing of poisonous or damaging emissions into environment such as to the atmosphere, to water, and ground water.
2. Sustainable agriculture gives priority to retention of soil fertility, undepleted and creates regeneration. For this prevention of soil erosion, utilizing natural resources obtained from farm land or from the environment such as cow dung, cow urine, left overs from the previous seasons farming, waste material that decomposes , plants that fixes nitrogen etc. are added on instead of agrochemicals and external inputs is done. Due to this knowledge of the recycling of fertility material, conservation of soil and water and of the surrounding environment enhances.
3. The soil moisture of the top soil is maintained and recharging of ground water takes place. In all development work the catchment area base should be maintained and improved. By doing this the water needs of the environment and of humans is fulfilled. 
4. On a single plot of land subsidiary crops that increases the spatial diversity, multi crops and the growing of plants and trees to reach to different canopies  and crop rotation that increases the temporal diversity one after another is utilized. allowing the land to be fallow and strip cropping are other practices that are adopted. By doing this the risks of soil erosion is reduced and the reduction of crop density is minimized.
5. On the cultivated land or outside it, the landscape or residences are established to improve the bio diversity of the natural environment eg. Kattakaduwa, Gasgommana, embankments of the lakes (dola), or streams, badaweti, Owita, Pillewa, landa, or the village forests and other commons are protected  or reestablishing them where they have disappeared so that the parasites and predators that are necessary for farming will have their residences.
6. The regional genetic diversity is recovered (such as the vegetables, yams, pulses, crude crops fruits etc are reestablished) and conserved to be utilized for agricultural development.
7. Regional and national knowledge is protected and conserved and integrated into the process of agricultural development.
8. The right of the rural population to have access to knowledge and technology about agricultural practices should be established while the resources of farming such as (seeds, water, forests, and bio diversity) and market should be subject to regional control and rule. Thus, in deciding about agriculture and in formulating policies obtaining the contribution of farming community should be a primary factor.

 Annex (1)

1. Due to chemical inputs the organic and nutrient content continuously reduces. Due to increasing population it becomes impossible to maintain water or healthy soil in the environmental systems. The only solution is to improve the biologically regenerative crop production systems to bring back soil and water into its natural regenerative state.
2. although it takes some time to transform systems of farming where chemical inputs have been heavily utilized back  into sustainable systems of farming, a system of farming where less external inputs have been used back into normal sustainability within a relatively short time.
3. According to the literary reviews conducted the yields obtained in sustainable agriculture in developed countries is equivalent to those obtained with chemical inputs.  However, in developing countries sustainable agriculture gives higher yields compared to those given by chemical agriculture
4. During the period of transformation from chemical farming to sustainable farming give 30% - 40%, Maize 10% -20% , Potatoes 30% - 40% vegetables 10% - 40% and fruits 30% less yields there is no difference in yields once soil productivity has been brought back to normal.
5. In humid and semi humid zones rice, wheat, pulses, coffee, banana, and coco have shown the same results.
6. It has been further shown that in addition to productive potential these sustainable farming practices have given positive contributions such as cleaner environments, reduced pollution of water, food becoming free of poison, and minimizing of global warming.

Annex 2

The practices applied by farmers, community based organisations, civil society organisations etc.

1. Soil and water conservation            - stone bunds and organic bunds

                                                      -. Eye brow bunds / ridges

                                                      - Mulching

                                                       - SALT (Sloping Agricultural Land            Technology)

                                                       - Alley cropping

                                                       - Live fencing

2. Improving the micro environment - live fencing

3.  Improving soil fertility                   -   Live compost pits

                                                             -   Wormy compost

                                                             -   Compost fertilizer

                                                             - Various tonics and organic liquid fertilizers

                                                             - Using straw as fertilizer

                                                             -  Jeevamurtha

                                                             - Pancha Kawya

4. Cropping systems                             - mixed cropping

                                                             -  terracing

                                                             -  SRI system, Nava Kekulama

                                                            

4.1. herbal  pest control                       -  Neem mixture

                                                             -  Chili, Anoda, Garlic, mixture

                                                             -  Leaf mixtures

5. Self production of seeds                  -   Saving the balance seeds

                                                            -    setting up plant nurseries

                                                            -   Selection of seeds

                                                            -    Storage of seeds

5.1 Pest control                                   - Neem mixtures, Caster oil

Annex 3

Experiments conducted by the Research sector

Blue green algae                                            L

Assolla                                                           L

Sesbenia Rostrata                                          L

Sesbenia Speciosa                                         L

N fixing plants on the ridges                         L

Recycling of straw                                        L

alley cropping ( utilizing gliricidia )             Up

SALT system                                                Up

Compost                                                        Up

Rhizobial inoculum                                       Up

Biofilmed biofertilizer                                   LUp

Use of green leaves ( nitrogen fixing )          LUp

Wormy compost                                             Up

cover crops                                                     Up

prevention of soil erosion                               Up

agroforestry                                                    Up

IPNS                                                               LUp

L – low land paddy rice

up – upland ( rain-fed )

Annex 4

Results of experiments

Since these researches have been limited to only one or two seasons it was not possible to have quantitative results / data in synthesizing them However, some trends could be seen.

1. In traditional agriculture the carbon accumulation increased by 12% during the fallow period and the gathering of nutrients to the soil is high. The yield obtained after a long fallow period is equivalent to the yield obtained by application of the recommended quantity of fertilizer.
2. when an improved fallow period is achieved in a paddy field by using Sesbenia spekiyosa ( diya siyambala ) the yield obtained is very near the yield obtained after using the recommended quantity of fertilizer.  Due to chemical fertilizer the soil nitrogen decreases over a long term. However when Sesbeniya leaves are added to the soil the nitrogen fixing bacteria density in the soil increases.  When Sesbenia ( dry weight of 4.4 mt / ha ) is added to the bio mass at 25% of the recommended quantity of nitrogen fertilizer is added the paddy yield increases beyond the expected yield with the addition of recommended nitrogen fertilizer.  If green fertilizer is added to the soil on a longer term it is possible to completely eliminate the chemical fertilizer to the soil.
3. When Ipil ( 8mt /ha ) is used it is possible to obtain a yield equivalent to that obtained with addition of 88 Kg of N ( 5 mt /ha ) Using 2.2 mt/ha of Ipil leaves it is possible to reduce the use of nitrogen fertilizer to half the recommended quantity.
4. When 8mt /ha of straw gets decomposed in the field it gives 30Kg of N and the total quantity of K( potassium ) necessary. By doing this the recommended quantity of chemical fertilizer can be reduced by this amount.  In the wet zone only it is necessary to add a small quantity of K to the field. By recycling organic matter and straw fertilizer it is possible to increase the nitrogen fixation that is done by free living ( heterotrophic  ) bacteria. the syeno bacteria   it is  possible to produce 30Kg N /.ha. By this it is possible to contribute a certain quantity of potassium and phosphorous too.
5. Blue green algae such as nostock and anabena can also fix nitrogen by this 10 -20 Kg N /ha can be produced.
6. When 12-15 Kg/ha of P O is added to the paddy field it is possible to get 10 -20 kg .ha of asolla bio mass within two weeks. However if asolla is applied twice to the field it is possible to reduce 55-84 Kg of fertilizer. By doing this it is possible to obtain a yield of 3.74 -3.98 mt/ha of yield.  Using asolla is more efficient than using urea the texture of the soil and aeration and the capacity for exchange of cations improves too. which helps in improving the bio activity of the soil
7. when 50 % of bio tissues and bio fertilizer is  used with recommended chemical fertilizer  the yield in rice / paddy is equivalent to that obtained when 100 % of recommended chemical fertilizer is applied.  The results obtained with tea leaves and with anthurium are similar.
8. Tithonia ( thiththa ) and glicidia leaves when applied on soil can remove the need for 50 % of the chemical fertilizer need in green gram.
9. When SALT farming is done by planting gliricidia and Ipil the leaf fertilizer thus added to soil will give yields of 2.5 -8.8 T/ha of yield in maize and dambala.  In the two years this was done there was no application of N and K fertilizer to the soil.  In Gliricidia and Ipil SALT farming 18.9 and 8.8 T/ha of fire wood was obtained as yield. the bulk density of the soil reduces and the infiltration rates increase the pH and N and K in the soil improves too.  Further since gliricidia is a SALT cultivation 90 % of the soil erosion in chena land is prevented and soil is considerably conserved too. 
10. It is possible to grow gliricidia and ipil in combination with grasses such as brakeria and panikam combinations by growing them in grown up coconut plantations which can provide fodder for cattle varieties such as jersey and improved indigenous cattle breeds. By doing this the yields in coconut fruits and copra can be improved. B adopting this integrated approach the chemical fertilizer use in coconut can be reduced by about 69 %.
11. By applying chicken dung and cow dung mixtures the use of recommended quantities of chemical fertilizer in Brinjols, Cabbage, and tomato can be made equivalent to that obtained using recommended chemical fertilizer quantities. It can even be higher. Due to chicken fertilizer the nematode density in the soil can be reduced too. By applying cow dung alone the yield in Rajala ( Diaschoria ) can give equivalent yields to when recommended chemical fertilizer NPK is applied.

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