Features

Potato ethics in the land of Paddy

Published

3 years ago

2023/04/11

Sahan Weerasooriya

(L) James Taylor. Picture courtesy: Ceylon Tea Museum (https://www.ceylonteamuseum.com/james-taylor.html

Scottish reflections in the ‘Ceylon Cup of Tea’

by B. Nimal Veerasingham

Years ago, when I was passing through a China Town, which is a standard to almost any major city, I came across a shop that sells specialty teas. China being the mother of all beginnings related to Tea, I went in, and the owner happily explained all varieties on display. When he showed one of the expensive varieties he had, I have to pause and take a deep breath. Lived in a country famous for its ‘Ceylon Tea’ the name ‘Monkey-pick-tea’ didn’t sound real, mostly due to my ignorance. I have heard about monkeys being used/employed to pluck coconuts, but with Tea? Who then manures and does the pruning, questions popped up, and for a moment thought the name of being a genius marketing ploy.

Later only I came to know that the tea bush (Camellia sinensis) without pruning can grow up to 15 feet or more in the wild. In the inaccessible cliffs of Wuyi mountains in China’s Southeast province of Fujian, monkeys were trained to break and throw back tea tree branches during the silk road days. Over time, this term referred to a Chinese tea shop owners ‘best’ or ‘top shelf’ tea.

James Taylor

The story of tea is so close to the psyche of the nation. Tea exports still take the lead of all our collective economic welfare, as opposed to the rapid transformation of many Asian nations away from their traditional export markets to reap the benefits of new technology and knowledge-based economy. A young Scotsman’s name is synonymous with the strong spread that resonated with the branding of ‘Ceylon Tea’. Besides what is been written by others, James Taylor’s continuous letters to his tightly knit family from 1851 in London awaiting passage to Asia at the age of sixteen, till 1891 just before his death offers a fascinating view of multi proportions as to his and history of Tea in Ceylon. The bulk of the correspondence, some 83,000 words in total is preserved in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Taylor was born in the North-East of Scotland in 1835 to a modest family, father being a wright (carpenter). Typical of countless young Scots who sought their fortunes in the British Empire and beyond as part of their coming of age, Taylor’s destiny was set on the Island of Taprobane from the beginning to the end. In fact, Scots were very much sought by the Imperial investors for their thrift, energy, and resistless determination and most of all having been exposed to the advanced and widespread Agricultural enterprise at home.

Coffee

Scotland though an ancient nation mostly governed by principalities and aristocratic jurisdictions, after 1707 became part of the Political and Economic union. The empire that they become part of is always British and not English. The Ceylon Government census from 1871 to 1901 shows that almost Scots held a quarter percentage of all British subjects in variety of roles but notably in the agriculture sector. Taylor naturally became part of that enterprise as a yet to be proven apprentice by the owners. During that time of ‘Coffee mania’ which came to a peak in 1870, Ceylon exported more than one million hundredweights to the London market. Taylor enthusiastically predicted that coffee is a splendid investment and for the 1858 crop his Lool Kandura estate could produce more than 3,000 hundredweights or about 150 tons and could bring a profit exceeding £ 5,000 to the owners for that season. No one could have guessed however, that less than two decades later the entire Ceylonese coffee industry would have vanished due to the decease ‘coffee rust’ caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix.

Agrarian Capitalism

The Scottish Agrarian enterprise which includes expansion of multiple trades associated with agriculture grew from a semi-subsistence base to a condition of advanced capitalism between 1760 and 1830s that was copied and applied all around the world. It is interesting that ‘Wealth of Nations’ written by Prof. Adam Smith (1723-1790) known as the ‘Father of Economics’ was attached to Glasgow University in Scotland. It was about the doctrine of ‘free enterprise’ creating wealth, leading to today’s libertarian markets ruled by market forces. While the Northern hemisphere was awash with free market philosophies and accumulating wealth more than one need, the Southern hemisphere was basking in a different kind of collective enterprise as being a socially conscious sedentary agrarian society.

‘ChellaThurai’

When I was growing up in the Eastern coastal city of Batticaloa, my father like so many of his compatriots and fellow city folks cultivated paddy across the lagoon in the hinterland. I am not sure whether he could be called a farmer by definition as he had a day job in town and cultivation of paddy was more like a week-end job. In fact, most of the work at paddy field was done or administered by a hired hand from the village called ‘Chellathurai’. Short, wiry, not with ideal hearing and highly stained few teeth that is left due to chewing betel constantly, he visited our house at least monthly on notifying the progress of the field and to replenish food supplies and getting paid. Though he did not come from a sophisticated science and capitalist economy-based agriculture the Scots were familiar with, his views on weather patterns, pests, animals, levees, seedlings, and soil enhancers were very well listened to as it was passed from many generations. After harvest he was given gunnies of rice paddy based on the contract. The rest were shared among our relatives and many months of rice supply was stored for our personal consumption. In essence there was no seriousness in accumulating greater commodity or cash, far exceeding the reasonable need.

When visiting my father, like many from his times Chellathurai did not wear shirt but a folded and wrinkled ‘shalvai’ (shawl) over his shoulder and an aged, long worn ‘verti’ from his waist down to his barefoot or folded at his knees. Though the shawl was folded I have seen him using it for multiple purposes, to protect from sun and rain and even use it as a bedlinen when he wants to take a quick nap. Coincidently, the origination of Scottish kilt and its uses are almost identical that of ‘Salvai’. The ‘Plaid’ which is part of the attire was used as bedding and in the case of Shepherds provided protection against all weathers in the highlands. Bishop Leslley commented in 1578 that it was for use and not for ornament, ’drape a length of wool fabric over the body like a shawl and keep it in place pleated by the waist with a belt and buckle.’

Environmental concern

When James Taylor arrived at ‘Lool Kandura’, he was given the first responsibility to clear almost 3,00 acres of virgin forest. He awed that there were enormous trees of 10 – 11 feet in circumference of very hard wood, red coloured like mahogany. As per James Webb, author of the ‘Tropical pioneers’, ‘the extensive removal of rain forest for planting in Ceylon is nowhere carried out to this scale in the entire British empire.’ This widespread deforestation mostly happened between 1840 -1870 resulted in significant ecological change. This transformation resulted in massive loss of topsoil in the middle and upper highlands, which limited the options for later alternative land use. Though the results for the expected mass profits were clearly visible, Webb did not hesitate to side-shift the responsibility on native Kandyan farmers. He blamed the destruction by the ‘slash & burn’ tactics employed in the chena cultivation by the natives did greater harm to the environment than clearing forest for coffee planting. It is obvious that the saga of mass cash crop enterprise owned and operated by the Imperial investors was all about profits and it hardly hold weight in comparing meagre subsistence farming by the natives for self sustainment.

Complaint about natives

Taylor was no different from other Europeans who did see the native population as lazy and inadequate. But again, their own insignificant observation about the natives provides the answer that they were looking for. ‘The Sinhalese would find it offensive to work for others….considered like slavery….they will work hard enough at their own small plots of land … other than felling trees and erecting estate buildings for higher remuneration they would feel offensive to do meagre work like weeding, pruning and harvesting.’ The ‘proceedings of the Planters association’ for 1862 was equally scathing, blaming the native’s refusal resulted in dependency for labour from India.

The European managerial class wanted to see through their own lenses of Agrarian capitalism and rigorous work ethics to accumulate wealth, rather than through the native subsistence agriculture and cycles of labor, limited to the daily needs that upheld collective social security than individual wealth in society.

Tamil migrants

Since the estates were in dire straight to keep pumping profits, a kangany system was put in place where a scout or foreman of the estate would return with migrants recruited from South India. Many argue this sometimes a seasonal and part of a circulatory migration rather than permanent as the numbers fluctuated depending on the season. According to Taylor, they would cross the Palk straight and trek through jungle roads and paths for 1-2 weeks covering almost 150 miles to reach the estates. Many did not make it, becoming victims to disease and animals. Besides record suggest that Kanganys did not spend even a third of the coast advance, resulting hundreds dying of starvation, many were thrown into the sea or left behind by the roadsides.

Unaware, unprepared and not used to the damp cold weather many migrants ran away as per Taylor and many died prematurely long before realising their dreams if any. While the planters lived in stone-built bungalows the estate workers were put into straw and daub lined huts, many without proper doors, at times 10 or more in single rooms. Taylor’s letters describe that ‘these naked fellows cannot take the cold at all. It kills them. I have to pick half dying on roadsides who are refusing western medicine.’ The death rate has been estimated at a quarter of the total labour force on plantations. Taylor repeated his calls for a medical doctor in Hewaheta district and attributed deaths to laziness or apathy of the workers and kangany who did not reveal the sickness on time. The high death rate continued throughout the 19th century and hospital records show that 21 percent of all migrant workers admitted to District-hospitals eventually died.

Recruiting workers from tropical settings and not providing proper clothing and housing but calling them naked and half dead shows that human life was not valued highly under the circumstances then.

Views from authority

Some scholars argue that this inhumanity arose from the influx of estate managers or superintendents from the Caribbean immediately after emancipation where slaves were treated differently, not to mention Britain’s direct involvement with slavery.

Taylor also might have been influenced by the resounding Lowland opinion critical of certain segments of the Gaelic and Celtic culture as being slothful and feckless to become victims during the great potato famine after 1846. It was easier for those who bought that race based evil of corrupt indolence to spread it along with other labour cultures based on traditional pre-capitalist world. It was unfortunate that planters both in Assam and Ceylon held the same conventional view that all their workers were lazy and feckless. This is the workforce that they had complete authority over and whose daily toil of blood and sweat depended on the processing of profitable commodities for sale throughout the empire.

Tea

When coffee was almost through the exit door by the mid 1880s the Scot ingenuity explored initially growing Cinchona (to obtain Malaria prevention bark) as a cash crop and later Tea, as the soil and climate perfectly matched. Never in the history of agriculture such extraordinary supersession and development was set within a knowledge economy than that of tea taking the place of coffee and Cinchona in Ceylon. With these developments Ceylon overtook China as the prime exporter with 35% of the share to the British market by 1896. Opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the steamship revolution aided lower cost and bigger profits for the Investors. The mechanisation with considerable engineering skills by Taylor to roll (crush) the leaves gave decisive advantage against the hand rolling practices of China.

The Colonial government which consisted by many from the landed proprietor class encouraged many of its civil servants and military officers to invest in Ceylon plantation economy directly than from overseas, and relaxed rules for land ownership, having an eye to expand its coffers. The infrastructure developments demanded by the Investors came to pass with the improvement of roadways and the opening of the Colombo=Kandy railway in 1867. This significantly reduced the transportation costs from the plantations to the Colombo docks by almost 60-75 percent, which the Indian planters hardly had and benefitted.

Clash of values

Though numerous advanced techniques in planting, building, surveying, and engineering learnt in Scotland were applied to improve the production, the bottom line of the colonial investors were profits. The cross-drains to improve the roads, the stone walls built without mortar and using spouts and iron pins to fetch water from faraway streams showcased James Taylor’s innovation and resourcefulness. Unlike other Europeans who preferred meat, vegetables and potatoes, Taylor preferred ‘Rice & Curry’ for all three meals, probably unable to resist the confluence of spices and coconut milk the same soil produced.

Eastern value system that was not always conducive to Western free market theories can learn aspects from the West’s perseverance, individual responsibility, innovation to accumulate wealth and competitiveness in a knowledge-based economy. Potato economy is not the best for a better world compared to paddy economy, but we cannot run against the world economic stream and live in the past to be left behind. As the Scottish professor Adam Smith said, only self-interest and extra productivity would bring surplus wealth to fund social welfare.

Final journey

The Ceylon press of July 1892 reported that the owners of the Lool Kandura estates, ‘Oriental bank Estates Company’ sought Taylor’s leave of absence due to lethargy of being resident of the estate too long. Taylor’s refusal to take leave resulted in the dispense of his services. An ultimate showcase of the Free Market/Potato economy falling victim for the same when the goals are not met, or services not needed.

Almost a year after dismissal, Taylor died on 2nd May 1892, almost spending 40 years at the estate. Reputedly a group of 24 estate workers carried his large body (said to have weighed 246 pounds) alternating all the way to Mahaiyawa cemetery near Kandy, about 18 miles away. That was the ultimate show of affection and bereavement by Eastern traditionalism Taylor sometimes showed indifference to. ‘Sami Dorai’ (Master of the highest) resting on the shoulders of ordinary workers in his final journey. The native soil that allowed Tea to flourish will now embrace the Master who had never set foot to his native soil after arrival.

The Empire

The heritage of James Taylor would be on display in a few months at the upcoming crowning of a new King in the United Kingdom as Queen mother’s lineage belongs to the Scottish Royals. At a time, the ‘Ceylon Tea’, once crowned by the Colonial-rulers marking its 156th anniversary in the Island, the empire of the past simply been remembered by a grand ceilidh (Big party in Gaelic). World leaders would be in their best, many from the former colonies in their national costumes. Scottish tartans spangled ceremonial and military attires would adorn Bag-pipe parades.

Away from the glitzy glamour, sings and praises, gun salutes and jet flyovers, the occasion for me would bring memories of ‘Chellathurai’ and his wrinkled and discoloured ‘salvai’ (shawl) over his bare shoulder – symbol of the paddy culture, to say the least.

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Features

Defend civic space upon which peace is built

Published

12 hours ago

2026/09/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

by Jehan Perera

International Peace Day was observed on 21 September. It finds Sri Lanka with a genuine achievement to record and a demanding test to meet. The UN’s theme this year was “Invest in Peace: For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day.” It also honoured the “everyday architects of peace”—people driving local action and building a lasting peace from the ground up. In the 2026 Global Peace Index, Sri Lanka rose 30 places, from 97th to 67th among 163 countries. Over the same period, global peacefulness declined for the twelfth consecutive year to its lowest level since the index began, and South Asia suffered the sharpest regional deterioration. The test is whether the government will protect the civic space in which those architects of peace work.

Sri Lanka’s improvement is real and deserves acknowledgement. In this year’s review, issued a few weeks ago, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights acknowledged progress in the form of action against corruption, arrests and investigations linked to political killings, enforced disappearances and the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, and continued official denunciation of racism. A ranking, however, records conditions at a particular moment. It does not guarantee that they will last. Sustainable peace will depend on three factors. These are whether the government addresses the unresolved causes of conflict, whether it strengthens accountability for past and present abuses, and whether it protects the civic space in which peace is built from below. On the first two the record is incomplete. On the third, the draft NGO law threatens to weaken the very organisations that press for the other two.

What holds Sri Lanka back from a higher place are the same things that fed the war at home and also feed international conflict that rages elsewhere in the world. These are racism or ethnic nationalism that is narrow-focused, corruption and lawlessness. Equality, accountability and the rule of law are their remedies. The present government has committed itself to these, and is a significant improvement over governments of the recent past. But these pillars are not held up by governments alone. Peace is made in villages, workplaces and university campuses. It is made by families who insist on the truth about their disappeared, by journalists and lawyers who expose abuse, and by community organisations that bring Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese into practical cooperation.

Unfinished Work

The UN High Commissioner’s report to the current Human Rights Council session, covering October 2025 to July 2026, shows how much remains to be done. The Prevention of Terrorism Act is still being applied, producing arbitrary arrests and long detention without charge. The report calls for a moratorium pending repeal and for the release of long-term detainees. Military-occupied land has not been released, memorialisation lacks support, and tensions over land and religious sites persist. The Batticaloa district illustrates how such problems endure. In the past three years, two Presidents, Ranil Wickremesinghe and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, have visited and instructed that the dispute over grazing land in Mailaththamadu and Mathavanai be resolved. It is a dispute between Tamil cattle farmers and outside Sinhala cultivators, and it has not been resolved. When two Presidents issue instructions and nothing changes, the fault lies in the machinery of State. An unresolved dispute does not stand still. It hardens into the next grievance.

Accountability shows the same pattern. The report documents torture and deaths in custody, and surveillance and intimidation of activists, journalists and civil society. Serious cases remain stalled for years, among them the killing of seventeen aid workers of Action Contre la Faim in Muttur two decades ago. Sharper still is the case of the Eastern University refugee camp at Vantharamoolai, where in 1990 the army took away 158 persons in a single day. They were never seen again. The camp’s officer-in-charge, Dr T. Jayasingam, later Vice Chancellor of the university, identified the officers responsible. More than three decades on, those officers have not been questioned. These cases are still remembered because families, survivors and independent witnesses have refused to let them be forgotten. Meanwhile several commissions of inquiry have completed their investigations but nothing further has happened.

What South Africa, Argentina and other post-conflict societies have found indispensable are four pillars of what is called “Transitional Justice” which are truth, accountability, reparations and non-recurrence. In Sri Lanka’s circumstances, truth means credible, independent investigation of what happened to the disappeared, and support for memorialisation. Accountability means prosecuting Muttur, Vantharamoolai and comparable cases, and removing credibly accused persons from senior office. Reparations mean compensation for victims and the return of military-held land. Non-recurrence means repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act, releasing those held under it in the meantime, and resolving local disputes such as Mailaththamadu before delay hardens them. A country that buries its past does not escape it. The past returns in the next generation.

Civil Society

It is against this background that the draft NGO law is most troubling. The proposed legislation contains sweeping provisions for State oversight and control of civil society organisations. Among these are enforcing a licensing requirement on NGOs, which is to be renewed every three years, and severe penalties for not submitting reports on time, or for spending on emergency flood relief (for instance) when the NGOs mandate is peacebuilding (as an example) with possible sanctions including deregistration and having to shut down. Civil society groups have warned that it would confer excessive discretion over their registration and operations. Officials in Sri Lanka have abused such powers in the past. Additional power without effective checks invites further abuse. Sound regulation would have clear criteria for registration, an independent registrar and a right of appeal to the courts. What cannot be justified is a regime in which registration becomes a licence to be withheld from organisations that scrutinise policy, expose abuses or advocate for the rights of citizens.

Democracy is based on checks and balances. Those who press for accountability are part of those checks. The contradiction is plain. A government that has pledged accountability, equality and the rule of law ought not to be preparing to weaken the very organisations that press for their fulfilment. The organisations most exposed are those working on disappearances, land, memorialisation and reconciliation in the North and East, where the State’s record is weakest and the need for independent witnesses greatest. Silencing them would not remove the grievances they document. It would remove the channel through which those grievances are addressed peacefully. The government appears to be relenting, which is welcome, but a pause is not a withdrawal. The bill should be withdrawn and any replacement drafted in genuine consultation with those it would govern.

Investment in peace as called for by the UN in its International Peace Day theme implies commitment over time, with returns that come slowly. Sri Lanka’s 30-place rise on the Global Peace Index is a first dividend and nothing more. It can be built upon only if the government matches its commitments with action: withdrawing or fundamentally redrafting the NGO law, repealing or suspending the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and bringing Muttur, Vantharamoolai and Mailaththamadu to resolution. A higher place in a global index is not a certificate of success. Sri Lanka’s higher ranking is an encouraging start, but it will endure only if the space in which citizens speak, question and organise is protected. Peace is built from below, and a government that is serious about it will treat civil society as a partner rather than a threat.

Features

Africa is buying: Sri Lanka must start selling

Published

12 hours ago

2026/09/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

A call to Sri Lankan exporters and agencies: Can Sri Lanka compete with China and India in Africa?

By Kana V. Kananathan
Former Ambassador

Sri Lanka has spent decades concentrating its exports on traditional markets in Europe, North America and Asia. Yet across the Indian Ocean lies a rapidly expanding market that remains significantly underdeveloped by Sri Lankan exporters: Africa.

The opportunity is not theoretical. Sri Lanka already exports packaging, textiles, rubber products, pharmaceuticals, paper, machinery and electrical goods to African markets. The question is whether these modest beginnings can be transformed into a serious export strategy—and whether Sri Lanka can compete against the enormous commercial presence of China and India.

The answer is yes—but Sri Lanka must compete differently.

Kenya: Gateway to East Africa

Kenya should be the starting point.

Sri Lanka exported approximately US$32.08 million to Kenya in 2025, while importing US$11.41 million. But US$32 million is tiny compared with the opportunity: Kenya imported more than US$24 billion in 2025. Even a 1% share of that market would represent nearly US$240 million in annual exports.

And the commercial base already exists. Sri Lanka’s 2025 exports to Kenya included approximately US$9.99 million in paper and paperboard products, US$9.73 million in knitted fabrics, US$3.64 million in pharmaceuticals, US$1.24 million in rubber products and US$1.20 million in machinery.

Kenya’s import structure is equally revealing. In the third quarter of 2025, industrial supplies represented 34.4% of imports, machinery and capital equipment 19.2%, food and beverages 9.0%, and consumer goods 7.3%. The opportunity for Sri Lanka, therefore, extends well beyond consumer goods—we can become a supplier to African industry.

But competition is fierce. Asia supplied around 70% of Kenya’s imports in 2025, with imports from China rising 16.5% and those from India 11.3%.

Sri Lanka cannot challenge China and India across every product category. Nor should it try. We must target sectors where quality, specialisation, reliability, technical capability, smaller production runs and flexibility matter more than simply offering the lowest price.

Where Can Sri Lanka Compete?

Packaging is an obvious starting point. Cartons, boxes, bags and labels are already among Sri Lanka’s exports to Kenya. Importantly, some Sri Lankan companies operating in Kenya are themselves importing these products from Sri Lanka. The market already exists; the challenge is to scale it.

As Africa’s food-processing, pharmaceutical, apparel and consumer-goods industries expand, demand for sophisticated packaging will grow with them. Sri Lanka already possesses the manufacturing capability and industry experience to capture a larger share.

Industrial rubber products, tyres, gloves and specialised rubber components offer another opportunity where Sri Lanka has established manufacturing expertise.

The apparel supply chain is equally promising. Rather than competing directly with African garment factories, Sri Lanka can supply fabrics, elastics, labels, packaging and specialised textile inputs.

Some Sri Lankan apparel manufacturing and export companies already established in Kenya, Togo, Ghana and Ethiopia are importing several of these inputs from Sri Lanka. The supply chain, therefore, already exists. The next step is to move beyond supplying Sri Lankan-owned factories and become a competitive input supplier to the wider African apparel industry.

Other sectors deserving systematic market development include pharmaceuticals and medical consumables, processed foods, biscuits and confectionery, coconut products, cinnamon and spices, electrical products and cables, industrial chemicals, ceramics, light engineering, agricultural equipment and food-processing machinery.

Sri Lanka should also look beyond physical goods. IT, fintech, banking technology, engineering, healthcare, hospitality management and professional services largely escape the freight disadvantage confronting merchandise exports.

The Tariff Problem Can Become an Opportunity

Market access cannot be discussed without tariffs.The East African Community applies a Common External Tariff with bands of 0%, 10%, 25% and 35%, while certain sensitive products attract still higher protection. Simply filling containers in Colombo with finished consumer goods will therefore not always be commercially competitive.

But that obstacle points towards a bigger opportunity: manufacture in Africa.

Sri Lankan businesses could export intermediate materials while undertaking final assembly, manufacturing, processing or packaging in Kenya. Packaging companies could establish converting plants; electrical manufacturers could assemble locally; pharmaceutical companies could explore manufacturing or packaging partnerships; and food companies could undertake final processing closer to consumers.

Kenya would then become more than an export destination. It could become Sri Lanka’s manufacturing and distribution gateway into East and Central Africa.

With the East African Community now comprising eight partner states and extending geographically from the Indian Ocean towards the Atlantic, establishing a regional presence is increasingly more important than viewing each African country in isolation.

West Africa Cannot Be Ignored

Sri Lanka simultaneously needs a West African strategy.

Ghana offers potential as an English-speaking commercial gateway and host of the AfCFTA Secretariat. Nigeria, with its enormous population and consumer economy, should be approached as a major market in its own right, despite its greater regulatory, currency and operational complexity.

ECOWAS tariff bands of 0%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 35% again make product selection critical. Sri Lanka should concentrate on products with sufficient differentiation and margins to absorb freight, tariffs and distributor costs.

Pharmaceuticals demonstrate both the opportunity and the challenge. Nigeria imported approximately US$766 million in pharmaceuticals in 2025, with India supplying roughly US$394 million and China US$131 million. Ghana imported approximately US$301 million, with India supplying about US$140 million.

Sri Lanka cannot simply offer another generic product and expect to beat India on price. We must identify specialised products, reliable supply arrangements, partnerships and, where commercially justified, local production or packaging.

Stop Promoting Sectors—Identify Products

Sri Lanka now needs an Africa Export Opportunity Study based on individual products, not broad sectors.

The Export Development Board, Foreign Ministry, chambers and private sector should jointly identify 15–20 priority products. For each product, Sri Lanka should calculate the HS code, African annual import demand, principal suppliers, Chinese and Indian market shares, applicable duties, freight from Colombo, regulatory requirements, distributor margins and final landed price.

That will tell us where Sri Lanka genuinely has a competitive advantage.

The Commercial Test

Before spending resources promoting a product, apply one simple test:

African import demand + Sri Lankan production capability + tariff + freight + distributor margin + regulatory cost = final landed competitiveness against China, India and local African production.

Only products that pass this test should receive concentrated export-promotion resources.

This would move Sri Lanka away from exhibitions, delegations and general discussions towards what ultimately matters: specific products, specific buyers, specific distributors and actual export orders.

Give Our Missions Targets

Commercial diplomacy must become results-driven. The Government should set clear annual trade and investment targets for every Sri Lankan mission in Africa.

Missions should be evaluated not merely on diplomatic activity, but on buyers and distributors identified, business introductions made, investments facilitated, market barriers resolved and measurable exports generated.

In a competitive Africa, our missions must become active economic frontlines not merely diplomatic outposts.

A practical strategy could operate through three commercial gateways: Nairobi for East and Central Africa, Accra for selected West African markets and Lagos for Nigeria.

Sri Lanka’s total exports of goods and services reached approximately US$17.25 billion in 2025. Capturing even a small additional share of Africa’s enormous import market could, therefore, make a meaningful contribution to export earnings, investment and foreign-exchange generation.

Africa Will Not Wait

Sri Lankan exporters must stop looking at Africa as a distant or difficult market and start treating it as a strategic growth market.

We cannot compete with China and India on scale, but we can compete on quality, specialisation, flexibility and reliability. Exporters must identify country-specific opportunities, establish strong local distributors, build partnerships with African businesses and use Sri Lankan companies already operating on the continent as gateways into regional supply chains.

Where freight and tariffs weaken competitiveness, businesses must be prepared to move towards local assembly, joint ventures and manufacturing in Africa. Exporters cannot do it alone. They need aggressive, measurable and results-driven commercial diplomacy from Sri Lanka’s missions.

Africa is buying. Its markets are being captured now. Sri Lanka must stop watching from the sidelines. We must enter, compete, build our presence and secure our share.

(Ambassador Kana Kananathan is a businessman, Diplomat, lobbyist and an expert in African affairs, with over four decades of experience on the African continent. A long-time resident of Africa, he served as Sri Lanka’s envoy to Uganda and Kenya, with concurrent accreditation to 22 African Nations, and was the permanent representative to UN Habitat and UN environmental Programme. Over the years, he has been the Elections Monitor across the continent, working closely with African governments, and built enduring partnerships with African leaders. He also served as Economic and Investments Advisor to former President Professor Alpha Condé of the Republic of Guinea)

Features

Memories and Midnight Magic: Recipe for a perfect 31st Night dance

Published

12 hours ago

2026/09/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

The heart of a great 31st Night dance is memory, and memories come rushing back when those 70s, 80s and 90s golden oldies begin to play — those timeless tunes that make revellers, young and old, rush to the floor and dance the night away.

A perfect 31st Night is not just a party. It is a journey. A journey through time.

The music should flow like a love story. Start slow, start soft. Let couples glide into a waltz for romance. Let the floor come alive with a twist, a rock ‘n’ roll, a jive. Let nostalgia build with beautiful sing-along oldies generally associated with a New Year’s Eve dance.

This is the art that many of our entertainers seem to have forgotten.

The final hour, before midnight, is sacred. It should be collective energy at its peak. The entire crowd, on the dance floor, linking arms, swaying together, singing, at the top of their voices, those sing-along favourites.

Yes, I’m referring to those immortal, nostalgic favourites that unite the world: ‘This Land Is Your Land,’ ‘You Are My Sunshine,’ ‘When The Saints Go Marching In,’ ‘Roll Out The Barrel,’ ‘Celebration,’ ‘She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain,’ ‘Happy Days Are Here Again,’ and so many more.

One wonders if some of our modern entertainers have even heard of these nostalgia anthems that traditionally lead up to the dawning of the New Year! This is not just music; this is ritual.

Then comes THE moment: Lights dim. Music pauses. A hush falls. The countdown begins — 10, 9, 8… — hugs, wishes, tears of joy, and then … ‘Auld Lang Syne.’ Hands crossed, voices united, bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new. That moment makes or breaks the night.

Here is the truth that many genuine 31st Night revellers feel but hesitate to say — an overdose of baila music at New Year’s Eve events is NOT welcome.

Of course, baila is required. Baila is our Sri Lankan heartbeat! But a 31st Night dance is for everyone.

When it’s ONLY baila, the twist and rock n’ roll lovers, the waltz kings and queens feel left out. And they are the very people who MADE nostalgia! They are the die-hard revellers who have kept the 31st Night spirit alive for decades.

A family mentioned to me that they went along with friends for a 31st Night dance, in the city, to usher in 2026, and were thoroughly disappointed with the setup.

The bands in attendance, they said, failed to generate the excitement generally associated with a 31st Night event.

If given a free hand, the music at certain Colombo venues will be mostly baila, and that is going to disappoint many. Some are already worried that it will be just a baila scene this year, as well.

A memorable 31st Night respects all rhythms … yes, a waltz for romance, a twist and rock n’ roll for that 60s magic, a cha-cha, a slow foxtrot, and then the baila, after the countdown anthem.

That balance is what makes it inclusive, classy, and truly fun-filled.

Organisers, especially in Colombo, should keep this in mind: let it be 70% nostalgia – Western, and 30% baila, with the last hour left for pure baila madness, after the New Year is in!

Organisers must work out the programme for their 31st Night and instruct the entertainers to follow those instructions. The band should not dictate the night; the spirit of nostalgia should.

This New Year, let’s give Colombo what it truly wants — memories, midnight magic, and music for every soul on the floor.

Let’s dance into 2027 with class.