dining / news

BBQ at Continental

Enjoy a range of delicious, succulent and mouth-watering BBQ cooked to your desire during our BBQ Buffet every Saturday and Sunday at the Poolside of Ceylon Continental Hotel Colombo.

A special selection of crisp green salads, soups and a dessert buffet will be on the cards by the Poolside from 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.

BBQ beef, pork, chicken and fish will be laid in a form of a buffet with live Calypso music to entertain all guests. Special offers such as complimentary changing room and free use of the pool for every group of ten persons will be offered.

For 25 persons Continental will be offering a complimentary glass of beer or a soft drink and tea/coffee with a snack during the BBQ Buffet.

Come and spend your weekend with us at the "Warmest Heart in Sri Lanka" Ceylon Continental Hotel, Colombo.

Maldives the latest addition to Ceylinco FastCash Network
 

Ceylinco FastCash the international money transfer service added Maldives as the latest corridor to its network of countries

The service initially launched in October 2006 linking Sri Lanka, Singapore and the UAE has expanded to 16 countries within a short period of one and a half years

The ability to effect cross border transactions within the network is also a unique factor which has given Ceylinco FastCash an edge.

The main agent for Ceylinco FastCash in the Maldives is Universal Travel Services Ltd, one of the largest groups of companies in the Maldives. The Ceylinco FastCash Remittance centre in Male was ceremonially opened by Chairman Ceylinco Consolidated Dr. Lalith Kotelawala and Chairman Universal Group Maldives, Mohammed Umar Maniku.

The new service will offer the large number of Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis and the Nepalis working in the Maldives to send money to their homeland fast, at a reasonable price and with a host of added benefits.

Rice: Economic boom or bust? Part XVII

Bojoon.com and CIC has teamed up to review one of the most controversial debates of Sri Lanka - is rice as an industry worth the effort.

The discussion so far . . .

Rice as an industry comes under heavy fire as unprofitable notes Senior Consultant Researcher of CIC Agri Businesses, Dr. Sumith Abeysiriwardena. Yet, instead of being abandoned, rice production over the last six decades has increased by 12 times! He points out the tremendous demand for rice, as a grain easy to handle and the only crop for marshy lands. With our technology and unique hydraulic systems our productivity is high and points that history proves rice is both our staple and our stronghold against our many enemies.

While other countries have made a viable export and domestic industry, we have decreased our rice consumption for wheat, making us economically vulnerable. He feels and our neighbours certainly reciprocate his thoughts, that buffer stock provides a good solution to stabilise our staple, especially with unpredictability unique to agriculture. MD/CEO of Agri Businesses Keerthi Kotagama, calculates that even with the best estimates, rice shortage is imminent at least at the tail end of year 2008, and a buffer stock is the only solution to address this immediate problem.

Kotagama continues that with increased production of ethanol due to increasing fuel prices and globalisation, the world is about to face a severe rice shortage. The intervention programmes of our immediate neighbours, though taken with the country's interests at heart, are causing unintended and long-term repercussions threatening to create a hungrier world.

Conversely, this has provided Sri Lanka a strategic moment that if used right would propel its rice industry to new levels. By developing the export market, Kotagama calculates that the farmer stands to earn a good profit while the local consumer getting his rice at the fair price.

However, he continues, the socio-fabric has changed drastically since colonisation. While there are advantages with these changes, these also make intricate agricultural projects and concepts like farmer associations impossible. Though farmer associations are a hard sell, they bring forth an array of benefits notes Dean of the Agriculture Department of Peradeniya University, Professor Buddhi Marambe - such as accruing proper data for research, adapting proper technology and educating the farmer on finance management. He continues that with a larger percentage of the population still in agriculture, the issue should not be whether agriculture is profitable or not, but how to improve it as an industry.

The discussion continues:

When the government elevated the KVC (agro-extension service) personnel into the position of village servicemen (grama sevaka), the Government lost a vital connection with the farmer, notes Professor Marambe. Without this connection with the farmer, the Government finds it difficult to bring the farmer into one body, link the farmer with the developing pace of the industry and improve upon his knowledge.

The government will buckle if it is to move into extension programmes of same or similar scale or magnitude as the private sector, which is comprised mostly of multinationals. The two main constraints the government faces are the lack of financial as well as human resources. Professor Marambe declares that when conventional sources are scarce, unconventional resources need to be sourced.

That unconventional source that the government can readily and easily tap into lies in the fertile grounds of universities in the form of undergraduates. Undergraduates, he continues, present number of benefits that the regular workforce cannot meet.

Undergraduates are generally young and energetic people, with most are yet to be burdened with the responsibilities of life. They do not have any other commitment than the pursuit of their studies. As undergraduates they have also narrowed their sphere of education to one main field. Thus, the entire professional life of the undergraduate is thus focused in his field of study. In his study he comes across the latest technology and the modern thoughts of the industry. In addition, their only allegiance is to their theories and not to any institute or organisation.

As such they are in the ideal position to be in the field with the farmer. They can be effectively utilised to bridge their new knowledge with the farmer. To the farmer, the young undergraduate is still a child and thus often eager to lend a hand in the young undergraduate's studies. He thus becomes more open to the young undergraduate's project and thereby to new thoughts and trends. However, these same thoughts, technologies and trends brought in by a seasoned professional or even a young graduate of few months is often met with resistance and resentment.

Whilst the undergraduate puts his theory into practice with the farmer, the farmer also - perhaps unwittingly - educates the undergraduate with knowledge accrued from a lifetime of experience. This knowledge that the farmer holds often encompasses beyond his own life, but also the lives of his father and his forefathers.

The understanding the farmer has from years and years of coaxing the best from his fields is knowledge that the undergraduate will not find elsewhere. These kinds of projects where partnerships are formed between the farmers and the undergraduates are hence synergetic to the industry.

Join Daily News next Friday as bojoon.com unravels with CIC many mysteries and misinterpretations surrounding rice cultivation in Sri Lanka. Share your own opinion by simply dropping an email to info@bojoon.com.

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