by Ifham Nizam
COLOMBO (The Island/ANN) - Sri Lanka's food security is threatened and the situation could take a turn for the worse.
Sri Lanka needs 196,000 MT of rice per month for consumption and the challenge before the country was to increase production without resorting to rice imports, an authority on agricultural science, says.
The Overarching Agriculture Policy developed with the assistance of the European Union for public consultations would help the country manage the situation, says National Experts Committee on Climate Change Adaptation.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Sustainable Nitrogen Management and Media Forum on Climate Change, on Wednesday night at the BMICH, Prof. Buddhi Marambe said that country’s food security was threatened and the situation could take a turn for the worse.
Prof. Marambe is Chairman, National Experts Committee on Climate Change Adaptation (NECCCA), Ministry of Environment, Sri Lanka, Chairman, National Invasive Species Specialist Group (NISSG), Ministry of Environment, Sri Lanka,
He said crop losses during three Yala and Maha seasons in 2015, 2016 and 2017 had compelled the country to import rice.
However, in 2018 the country had a bumper harvest, he added.
Prof. Marambe said that the Overarching Agriculture Policy (OAP) developed with the assistance of the European Union for public consultations would help the country manage the situation.
The policy had been developed over the past 10 months through wide stakeholder consultations at central and local level supported by the EU’s Technical Assistance to Modernization of Agriculture project, he said.
OAP was part of Sri Lanka’s strategic response to the evolving priorities and challenges in the global, national and sectoral environments. Prof. Marambe said.
The Green Climate Fund is expected to provide USD 100 billion every year from 2020 to tackle climate change issues. However, to-date only USD 10.2 billion had been committed, Prof. Marambe said.
The food security encompasses the properties of availability, access, affordability, quality, nutrition and safety, he added.
There had been 4.8 percent growth in the agriculture production, in 2018, despite the challenging weather conditions, and technology adaption was at a higher rate in Sri Lanka and this was the secret of sustainable development, he noted.
Food imports had become inevitable in the face of unfavourable weather conditions. There will be many challenges in the agriculture sector within the next 10 years and one key challenge was people’s changing food habits, Prof. Marambe said. "This has resulted in an increasing demand for grains which in turn has increased human consumption. The demand for animal feed also has increased over the years."
The agriculture sector is experiencing 20 to 40 percent post harvest losses especially as regards perishable products. "We need to think in a novel way to overcome this problem which will have serious implications for food production," he said.
Dr. R.D.S. Jayathunga, Director (Climate Change)Ministry of Mahawali Development and Eng. Buddhika Hemashantha, Member of NECCC- Mitigation / CEO, Climate SI (Pvt.) Ltd. Dr. Shiromi Jayawardana, Deputy Director, Department of
Meteorology Anoja Senavirathna, Director (Mitigation Research and Development Division), Disaster Management Center and Vositha Wijenayake, Member of NECCC-Adaptation/ CEO, SLYCAN Trust also spoke.
