• ILO report blames mishandling, lack of proper transportation at economic centres

Sri Lanka is incurring an annual loss of $ 200 million (mn) due to the wastage of vegetables and fruits, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said, citing a report prepared by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

During a meeting at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute, the impact on the country's agriculture sector due to the ban on chemical fertilisers and agrochemicals imposed in 2021, the prevailing economic crisis, and the damages caused by animals was discussed at length.

Speaking during the meeting, Amaraweera said that according to a report prepared and presented to him by the ILO, Sri Lanka is incurring an annual loss of $ 110 million due to the wastage of vegetables and another $ 90 million due to the wastage of fruits.

The Ministry's Media Director, Dharma Wanninayake told The Daily Morning that the said report had been prepared by the ILO with a focus on the wastage of fruits and vegetables due to issues such as mishandling and the non-availability of proper transportation methods at places such as dedicated economic centres.

Meanwhile, noting that unpopular decisions will have to be made to prevent crop damages caused by animals, Amaraweera requested a group of experts who attended the meeting to submit recommendations on measures to be taken to prevent such damages to the Ministry as soon as possible. 

"Various reports are being released on measures to be taken to prevent crop damages due to animals, but no one is coming up with recommendations. Therefore, no matter how unpopular the recommendations which will have to be made to find a proper solution to this issue are, we will not hesitate to implement them. If not, this issue will have a serious impact on the agriculture sector so much so that the people will have to starve in the next 10 to 15 years,” he claimed.

Following a revelation that crop damages have increased to 30% to 40% due to wild animals, and that the same has affected food production in the country, the Ministry of Agriculture recently stated that it would implement an action plan to minimise the crop damages caused by wild animals. Under this programme, several animals including monkeys, peacocks, grizzled giant squirrels, porcupines, wild boars, and toque macaques were removed from the list of protected animals late last year (2022).