‘While seed mafia holds sway’

by Saman Indrajith

Successive governments in recent years have contributed towards total subjugation of the country’s agriculture seed market to the multinational corporations, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said.

Participating in the committee stage debate on budget 2021, MP Dissanayake said: “There are three main mafias in the world – the first is the pharmaceutical mafia, the second is weapons mafia and the third is seed mafia. The seed companies such as Monsanto of the US had totally subjugated the world seed market. They have been able to set up their local agents who in turn control the local seed market for a profit.

“This is a very profitable business. When a kilo of chilli seeds unloaded at Colombo harbor its CFI value is $300 (Rs. 55,000) in rupees but sold in the market at Rs 169,000. The CFI value of a kilo of papaw is 190 dollars at the harbor (Rs. 35,150) but sold at Rs. 800,000 in the market. A kilo of seed tomato is 600 dollars in its CFI value at the harbor. That means Rs. 110,000  but sold at Rs 190,000 in the market.

“A kilo of cabbage seed is at $85 in its CIF value (Rs.15,725) but sold at Rs 400,000 in the market. These figures will help you understand what is really happening. Can we break this monopoly of the seed mafia and its local agents?

“Since 1990 not a single seed farm has been started in this country. The seed farms we had were sold. Seed farms at Pelvehera, Hingurakgoda and China farm between Thamuttagama and Talawa were sold to CIC. The Mahailuppallama seed farm today is abandoned to become a forest of ipil-ipil. There was a plan to sell that too off to a Bangladesh company in 2018.

“We in Sri Lanka had a bio-diversity rich seed culture. We had varieties of pumpkin, ladies fingers, maze etc, but none of them exist now. Those varieties were suitable for the soil, environment zone and climate of those zones. None of those varieties are seen now.  We have only the products coming from the seeds provided to us by the multinational corporations.

“The loss of seed culture and the subjugation to the multinational corporations is only an outcome of the sorry state prevailing. The situation of agriculture in the country today could be seen in the way the government treats the agriculture minister. Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage holds the agriculture portfolio.

“On Aug. 9 in a gazette allocating institutions to the ministries, four institutions namely the Agriculture Department, Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board, Elkaduwa Plantations Ltd and Export Agriculture Department were placed under his purview. In another gazette dated Sept. 23, the number was brought down to two. Mahindananda Aluthgamage is the first-ever agriculture Minister in the country without the Agrarian Services Board and Department of Export Agriculture under his purview. The Council for Agricultural Research Policy (CARP) is also not under his purview.

“Our nation is known since time immemorial as a civilization based on agriculture, but the contribution made by agriculture to the GDP is not sufficient today. Agriculture occupies 11 percent of lands, 25 percent of the workforce but contributes only seven percent to the GDP. Its contribution to the industries sector is 35 percent. That is the main problem of the country’s agriculture sector today.

“The second problem is the poor living conditions of the farmers. The least number of facilities in healthcare, drinking water, education, roads and housing are allocated to the farmers. They live in abject poverty as a result. They are in debt to the fertilizer shop, pesticide shop, the millers and the paddy purchasers. Their jewelry is at the pawnbrokers. They have become prey to the micro-credit companies. So the lives of farmers should not only be brought up economically but also socially if the government has any genuine intention of developing the country’s agriculture sector”.