Local food production drive

The timely action by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in putting the agriculture sector into overdrive helped Sri Lanka to confront a major global food crisis two years ago.

The local food production drive launched by the President in anticipation of a world food crisis two years ago appears to have paid off in every respect with the agricultural sector recording a boom.

According to our front page report yesterday the country’s agricultural sector had recorded a 7.5 percent growth last year. This year the sector had already recorded a 5 percent growth rate by the end of only the second quarter. Agricultural Development and Agrarian Services Minister Maithripala Sirisena expects a higher growth in the agricultural sector during the forthcoming 2009-2010 Maha season. It is certainly boon time for the farmers as well who have been provided with all the incentives and concessions to realize the President’s objective.

Agriculture had been the nation’s backbone throughout its history and we can ignore this sector only to our greatest peril. Under the post 77 UNP Governments agriculture suffered neglect since the leaders at the time wanted to convert this country to another Singapore.

As a result the accent was on developing the industrial sector with only lip service paid to agriculture. True, there were elaborate Vap Magul ceremonies in the first flush of victory of the JRJ Government, but down the line all this was proved an eyewash with the farmers eventually committing suicide. All this was in contrast to the agricultural revolutions created by the UNP under D. S. Senanayake and Dudley Senanayake who pioneered the Grow More Food campaign in the mid sixties.

Ironically it was left to President Rajapaksa to revive these measures which were abandoned by succeeding UNP Governments which were engrossed in industrial development. Even while the war was being fought intensely necessitating his full attention on the military offensive the President called for a crash program of food production. He issued instructions that all cultivable land be tilled and implemented measures to take over land that were abandoned instead of being put to productive use.

The campaign was taken far and wide from school level and the grassroots. The results paid off when the threatened world food crisis finally became a reality. Sri Lanka was able to withstand the famine at a time there were food riots in certain countries. Now the visionary step has also placed the local agricultural sector in good shape recording impressive growth. Hopefully the momentum will be sustained and agriculture which is an integral part of the country’s heritage will once again attain its pre-eminent status as in our glorious past.

Code of conduct

Legislation is contemplated to put all television advertising under the microscope. According to Cultural Affairs Minister Piyasiri Wijenayake his Ministry on the initiative of the President is framing legislation to introduce a code of conduct for television advertisements.

Certainly most of our television advertisements today are puerile, lacks creativity and a majority of these are an insult to the intelligence of the average public. But the Minister is perhaps targeting those advertisements which violate the cultural traditions of the country as is his remit. But given the hold of commercialism on a media such as television, issues such as corporate sponsorship the trend in catering to modernity, target audience etc. the Minister may have a battle on his hand.

Besides today advertising alone cannot be singled out for criticism. There are live programs on certain TV channels which openly compromises moral and ethical standards at the expense of the young. Needless to state these mega Super Star shows are hardly within the accepted norms of moral conduct and behaviour, on the part of their young participants.

What is ironic is some of our National channels too are attempting to emulate these gyrations thus sending the wrong signals to the youth of our country. Recently there were posters put up all over Colombo calling for action to stop one such program on a particular TV channel which was deemed to have the effect of corrupting young minds. Action should be taken to curb such practices as well.