Editorial
The rice crisis

Several decades ago, when the Food Drive led by Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake in a bold move to achieve self-sufficiency in essential foods wherever possible, the press officer in Mr. MD Banda’s Agriculture and Food Ministry, Lakshman Ratnapala telephoned several prominent personalities to get their views on the effort. One of them, the late Dr. EW Adikaram, the ascetic academic, told Ratnapala: “I can tell you what I think but you will not be able to publish my view.” The press officer urged “never mind, Sir, please tell me.” Adikaram’s reply: “I think we are already self-sufficient in rice because we eat twice as much as we need to!”
However that be, in the years since Dudley Senanayake’s Food Drive, we have heard boastful claims from many ministers that self-sufficiency in rice has been achieved. During Mr. EL Senanayake’s time as agriculture minister a cargo of rice was even exported to an African country. If the annual rice consumption of a population that has increased sharply over the years and the domestic production are compared, without doubt the self-sufficiency claim will be proved accurate. Yet we continue to often import rice to contend with a real or perceived shortages.
Our regular columnist Rajan Philips wrote on this page last Sunday of “Sri Lanka’s Perennial Rice Crisis: Scarcity Despite Self-Sufficiency” neatly summing up the existing situation. For the past several years, a so-called Mafia of large scale rice millers have been accused of hoarding and price manipulation to the detriment of both producer and consumer alike. Recent inspections have not been able to establish hoarding. Noises made by government on its commitment to end such practices have been all froth and no beer. Imposition of controlled prices have not worked with the available enforcement mechanism lacking the required muscle. Many traders refrained from stocking saying that selling at the declared maximum retail price (MRP) would mean losses.
Although government permitted rice imports, it imposes a high tax of Rs. 65 per kilo no doubt in an effort to safeguard producer interests rather than as a revenue raising measure. Finely balancing producer and consumer interests in determining the price of rice is a very difficult if not an impossible exercise. Recent and present shortages per se were not of rice itself but of certain varieties of rice, Nadu in particular. Red rice too was short in some areas, something the opposition seized on to say this affected the cooking of Pongal rice by Hindus to celebrate last week’s festival. The government countered by attributing the shortage to Ranil Wickremesinghe’s distribution of free red rice before the presidential election.
A variety of factors come into play in the availability and price of rice which is not only the country’s staple food but had also long been a staple of politics. For example there was a price incentive to produce keeri samba. When there was an over-supply of this variety, considered superior and therefore more expensive, some traders made the purchase of a quantity this variety a condition for selling cheaper rice. Whatever the recent convulsions regarding the prices and availability of rice, we were never confronted by a situation similar to the post-1970 crisis of the Sirima Bndaranaike-led United Front government when rice less days were mandated by law and haal pollas (rice barriers) erected to prevent the transport of paddy/rice across districts.
A factor that has contributed to the present problem has been the running down of the state-owned Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) and the fact that the PMB continues with outdated warehousing rather than using silos for grain storage like the big millers do. An effort to rehabilitate rundown PMB warehouse has now begun and hopefully the board will soon be effective in the market.
What’s in a name?
As readers are well aware, appreciations of people no longer alive, written by their friends and relatives are regular features in most newspapers. When very well know figures like former President Jimmy Carter of the USA and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India died recently, their obituaries were published not only in their own countries but also globally. In our paper last Sunday, Amal Jayasinghe, long time bureau chief in Colombo of the Agence France-Presse (AFP), wrote an appreciation of his father marking his seventh death anniversary.
This was no common or garden obituary. Using his considerable writing skills, the writer focused on his father’s names. Originally named Hirohito Edward Jayasinghe, these names were later replaced with Lenin Lindbergh with the subject living out his life as Lenin Jayasinghe. Lenin, though not common, was not totally unknown in then Ceylon and now Sri Lanka. If fact we even have a Joseph Stalin leading a teachers’ trade union and there have been more than one Hitler in this country. Also Shakespeare from Jaffna, a Bradman in the Ceylon Civil Service and elsewhere but no Mussolini we know of. Hirohito we have not heard before.
We all know the Solomon West Ridegeway (a British Governor General) Dias Bandaranaike though fewer would know that the name Solomon was carried by at least three generations of the Bandaranaikes with even Anura bearing that name. He was Anura Priyadhrshana Solomon Dias Bandaranaike. SWRD, apparently, was called “Solla” in close family circles. We also had Henry Woodward (famous principal of Mahinda College, Galle) Amarasuriya well know for his wealth and political role having been elected to parliament and served as a cabinet minister. The writer had a friend who named his daughter Romancita after a race horse – whether it was winner he backed we do not know.
Nicknames too are galore in schools and not only for teachers. There was a Yakadaya at royal College followed by his sibling Malakadaya!
Editorial
Challenge of being NPP govt.

Thursday 6th February, 2025
The JVP-led NPP government has announced certified prices of paddy at long last. Minister of Agriculture K. D. Lalkantha said yesterday that the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) would purchase nadu, samba and keeri samba varieties at Rs. 120, Rs. 125 and Rs. 132 a kilo, respectively. Curiously, there was no mention of a certified price of red/white kekulu paddy.
Announcing the certified prices at which the PMB intends to purchase paddy is one thing, but purchasing paddy, as promised, is quite another. Does the PMB have enough storage facilities to maintain adequate stocks of paddy, which the government says, will be milled and sold to the public to prevent market manipulations by unscrupulous millers? Complaints abound that many PMB warehouses are still in a dilapidated state.
Farmers’ associations have taken exception to the certified paddy prices announced by the government. They are demanding higher purchase prices. But the government has to look at the bigger picture and factor in the interests of rice consumers as well when certified paddy prices are determined. Balancing the competing interests of those two groups is no easy task, especially ahead of an election. The government ought to provide a detailed or itemised cost estimation so that one will be able to see if it has calculated the paddy production costs properly.
Why did the government take so long to announce the certified prices of paddy? It is being claimed in some quarters that about 25% of the paddy harvest had been gathered by Wednesday (05). Opinion may be divided on the amount of paddy so far harvested, but a large number of farmers had to dispose of their produce at prices ranging from Rs. 80 to 90 a kilo in several districts for want of guaranteed prices.
The government recently claimed that it had delayed the announcement of the guaranteed prices of paddy purposely for the sake of farmers, who, it said, were selling their produce at prices as high as Rs. 140 a kilo. But farmers have rubbished this claim; they have said none of them could sell their paddy at such high prices, and the delay on the part of the government only enabled a group of large-scale millers with political connections to purchase paddy at unconscionably low prices. They have alleged that the government waited until the wealthy millers had finished purchasing paddy to announce the guaranteed prices. Successive governments have done so to enable the powerful millers to maximise their profits at the expense of both rice consumers and paddy cultivators. Whether the incumbent administration will be able to convince the public that it is different from its predecessors remains to be seen.
The onus is on the warring farmers’ associations and the Opposition, which is shedding copious tears for rice growers for political reasons, to prove that there arose a genuine need for higher guaranteed prices of paddy than the ones that prevailed before last year’s regime change; they should prove that the cost of producing a kilo of paddy has increased since September 2024 or so, when the average price of a kilo of rice was about Rs. 170. Were the increases in rice prices during the past several months due to an actual increase in the cost of production? Or, were they due to other factors such as hoarding by large millers? The Opposition, which demands a purchase price of at least Rs. 140 per kilo of paddy, has attributed the steep hikes in rice prices to a secret deal between the big-time millers and the government, hasn’t it? How will it reconcile the aforesaid allegation with its claim that the cost of producing paddy has increased?
Meanwhile, the government has said the certified prices of paddy are aimed at maintaining the maximum retail prices of rice at the current level while looking after the interests of the farmers. The public has been protesting against the prevailing rice prices, which they consider extremely high. Is it that the government has no plans to bring down the rice prices to the previous levels?
Editorial
Rice-paddy dilemma

Wednesday 5th February, 2025
Rice is more than a food item for Sri Lankans; it is a kind of politico-cultural staple. Hence its ability to make or break governments. One of the key factors that led to the 1953 Hartal was a steep rise in the price of rice under a UNP government. The then Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake had to resign when protests went out of control. The SLFP-led United Front government came to power in 1970, promising to make rice freely available at affordable prices even if it were to be brought from the moon, of all places! However, that promise went unfulfilled, and rice shortages, among other things, led to the collapse of that dispensation.
Interestingly, an increase in the price of rice due to a subsidy cut, inter alia, under another UNP government, gave a big fillip to the early growth of the JVP as an alternative to the traditional leftist parties in the late 1960s. About six decades on, a democratically elected JVP-led government is facing a kind of existential problem over some unresolved issues concerning rice. It is a double whammy for the JVP; both rice consumers and paddy farmers are demanding that their competing interests be addressed.
Rice growers are threatening to march on Colombo and stage what they call Aragalaya II unless the government ensures that they get a fair price for their produce without further delay. They have been berating the government for serving the interests of some wealthy millers at the expense of the farming community. The Opposition, true to form, is fishing in troubled waters.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has been urging the government to set the guaranteed price for paddy at Rs. 140 a kilo. If the government acceded to his demand, how much would a kilo of rice be? Will Premadasa provide an answer?
True, the government is seen to be serving the interests of some big-time millers, who always have the last laugh. People voted the JVP-led NPP into office because they wanted it to deal firmly with all those who were exploiting them. The government has baulked at taking on the millers. However, its difficulties should be appreciated. It is in a Catch-22 situation. It cannot increase the purchase price of paddy without causing the rice prices to increase. Similarly, it cannot bring down the rice prices without lowering the paddy prices.
The government is in the current predicament because it is dogged by the slogans the JVP/NPP used during its opposition days to mobilise farmers against the previous administration. When current Deputy Minister of Agriculture Namal Karunaratne was in the opposition, he pressured the SLPP-UNP government to ensure that paddy fetched Rs. 150 a kilo. Now, he is drawing heavy flak from his erstwhile fellow agitators, who are demanding that the NPP government carry out what it asked its predecessor to do.
It behoves the government and agricultural experts to get their costing right. The average price of rice was about Rs. 170 per kilo when the NPP came to power late last year. The purchase price of paddy was below Rs. 100 per kilo at that time. Rice growers demanded higher prices for their produce, but they reconciled themselves to the market conditions, the implication being that they were either breaking even or earning profits at least marginally; otherwise, they would have taken to the streets, led by the JVP/NPP. The average price of rice increased beyond Rs. 250 per kilo subsequently and the government moved in to cap it at Rs. 230. Has the cost of producing paddy increased steeply since last year’s regime change for the protesting farmers to demand an increase in the purchase price of their produce?
It is only natural that farmers strive to get the highest possible price for their produce, but cost calculations should be done scientifically for a guaranteed price for paddy to be determined. The government should pluck up the courage to stop dilly-dallying and grasp the nettle. Procrastination will only make matters worse.
Editorial
Ambivalence, irony and reality

Tuesday 4th February, 2025
All arrangements have been made for Sri Lanka’s 77th anniversary of Independence to be celebrated on a grand scale today. Interestingly, Independence is being celebrated under a government that is experiencing an inner conflict over when the British colonial rule actually ended in this country. Prior to its ascent to power, the JVP insisted that Sri Lanka had not ceased to be a British colony in 1948; the transfer of the reins of government from the British to a group of Brown Sahibs could not be considered true Independence, and Sri Lanka remained in colonial shackles to all intents and purposes until 1972, when the first republican Constitution was introduced. The government finds itself in an ideological bind in respect of Independence.
Independence Day is an occasion to reflect on the past 77 years and take stock of the challenges that lie ahead. Nothing is further from the truth than the claim that Sri Lanka has not achieved anything since 1948, and the post-Independence era has been a curse. True, misgovernment, corruption and economic mismanagement have brought about the present sorry state of affairs, but the country has not been without post-Independence achievements.
It is a textbook example of irony that Sri Lanka is celebrating Independence while preparing another national budget under the instructions of the International Monetary Fund, and seeking financial assistance from international lending institutions and donor nations. What is described as the largest-ever World Bank loan granted to Sri Lanka is being flaunted as an achievement! What is this world coming to when a country celebrates debt restructuring, foreign loans and aid from other nations?
The ‘Granary of the East’ has had to import rice–this time around, not due to a drop in the national paddy production, but because of the government’s failure to free the public from the clutches of a ruthless millers’ cartel, which is accused of hoarding paddy. Coconut imports are also on the cards. Whether a country that cannot even maintain adequate stocks of salt is equal to the task of investing in the agricultural sector and achieving self-sufficiency in food is the question.
It may not be too cynical a view that the only sector that is booming in Sri Lanka is its state service, which is so huge that there is one public official for every 15 citizens! There are already about 1.5 million state employees, but 30,000 more are to be recruited to the public service under the current dispensation, which has also promised substantial public sector salary increases.
Despite promises of reform, the incumbent government has fallen into the same rut as its predecessors, perpetuating the dependency culture for political expediency in the name of relief provision. It is expected to present an election budget shortly with an eye to winning the upcoming local government polls.
It is time for making difficult decisions to resolve the current crisis, and the need for the rulers and their political opponents to share in the suffering of the people who are making numerous sacrifices in the name of economic recovery cannot be overstated. The least they can do is to give up some of their perks and privileges and reduce the cost of government.
The focus of ongoing efforts to turn the country around has been on political and economic reforms. The near-collapse of the economy has caused economic reforms to get underway in earnest, and much is being spoken about moves to ‘create’ a new political culture. Such reforms are no doubt essential, but the attainment of the country’s desired economic and political goals consists in an effective social reform movement, which alone can bring about a radical attitudinal change in the public, promote rational thinking, and enhance national productivity, the be-all and end-all of economic development.
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