Despite rice remaining a staple food in Sri Lanka for centuries, we are still struggling to establish a proper mechanism that ensures the adequate and effective production, storage and supply of rice. Although some measures have been taken by successive governments to remedy these frequent shortages of rice, the country has again found itself struggling to deal with the shortage.

This time, however, the public seem to expect concrete and sustainable solutions for long standing issues from the new Government in power, who during campaigning vowed to provide such. It was one of the key election promises given by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the National People’s Power (NPP) Government led by him, and they promised prompt solutions that involve taking stringent action against alleged paddy and rice hoarders. Whether they have fulfiled this promise is a question asked by Opposition Parliamentarians and the public alike. It seems that the NPP is only now learning the realities of governance, and that ‘tough measures’ promised while in Opposition, mean little when you can’t do them within the judicial framework of the Constitution.

Last week, President Dissanayake finally met large-scale rice millers who have long been accused of manipulating the rice market in Sri Lanka in order to make higher profits through limited supply. The President’s instructions were to increase the release of rice to the market and to reduce rice prices, which was followed by a warning of stringent action. It remains to be seen whether the President’s instructions would result in tangible and positive changes, and whether they would eradicate the so-called rice mafia, are questions that are yet to be answered. However, the warning of stern action, which was recorded and released to the press, may remind some of a similar ‘performance’ by now ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who did like a bit of theater in his governance style to uphold his ‘strongman’ image.

This discussion with President Dissanayake took place in a context where the Government has found itself in a difficult situation concerning the rice shortage. On the one hand, despite posturing done in the lead up to the election, it is evident that the Government is coming to terms with the reality that resolving the country’s issues, especially multifaceted ones such as rice shortages, is neither an easy nor a fast process. On the other hand, the fact that the consumers do not have access to the amount of rice that is produced in the country despite the existence of various mechanisms regulating the production and supply of rice is proof that mere instructions or legal actions are unlikely to resolve the rice shortage. This nationwide issue requires a holistic approach, starting with finding out why the amount of paddy produced in the country does not get transferred to the market as rice.

The Government should go beyond merely issuing instructions and directives. First of all, the Government should investigate how ‘genuine’ the prevailing rice shortage is, as a plethora of allegations have been leveled against large-scale rice millers and wholesale rice sellers. In fact, a key Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna-affiliated group, which is represented by many farmers’ unions in the island, has long protested calling for the previous government to act against large-scale rice millers and granary owners, charging that the latter had deprived the consumers of fair rice prices. This entire situation points to a lack of robust policy and regulation on food security and maintaining a strategic reserve of essential food items, which many countries do as a practice. For example, when it comes to India, that country suspended the exportation of rice and other food staples such as onions on several occasions during the past few years. That was due to concerns about food shortages in the domestic market. As such, Sri Lanka too needs to update its regulatory process and its enforcement mechanism/s. It may be prudent for the Government to commence these measures with an islandwide audit of all grain reserves aimed at getting an accurate and updated picture of the current situation concerning such reserves and also take policy action based on such an assessment.

The voters who elected Dissanayake as the President and placed the NPP with a controlling stake in the Legislature would be watching closely to see if the government takes the right decisions, especially with a focus on whether the government favours its friends and political supporters as previous governments did. Today, the theatrics of Gotabaya will not work. With the ‘aragalaya’ protests in 2022 and its outcomes, the public is now fully aware of their inherent powers, which in 2022 was exercised by taking to the streets, and the President should be wise enough to manage the situation to prevent such. At the end of the day, this is a matter of what is on the change-seeking public’s table for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.