Comments on: Feature article: Who Speaks for Small Farmers, Earthworms and Cow Dung?

By: When Worlds Collide #79: SALT can Save Lanka’s Upcountry Land and Soil | When Worlds Collide, by Nalaka Gunawardene

Sat, 17 Aug 2013 23:39:21 +0000

[…] “One millimeter of top soil lost is 13 tons of total soil loss per hectare. In some areas in Sri Lanka’s hill country, more than a centimetre of soil has been lost in a year, so the loss is often over 100 tons per hectare! Such erosion leads to a rapid loss of soil fertility, and can seriously affect the catchment of several key rivers that originate from the hill country,” Ray told me in a 1995 interview. […]

By: When Worlds Collide #59: Seeking Clarity in Murky Waters | When Worlds Collide, by Nalaka Gunawardene

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:43:00 +0000

[…] of water use, but progress has been slow. Growing rice in Sri Lanka remains water intense. An average of 20 tons of water is used to grow one kilo of rice. Three quarter of this is used to suppress weeds, and not to meet the rice plant’s own needs. (As […]

By: veedhur

veedhur — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:12:58 +0000

With Ray W, goes another person who can with authority talk reason with the Agriculture ministry and industry that is mostly pre-occupied with practices promoted by the agro-chemical industry.

By: Sarath Weerasena

Sarath Weerasena — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 02:10:17 +0000

As a retired Director General of Agriculture, I have always respected Dr. Wijewardena’s candid opinions on sustainable agriculture. Going along with him, the Department of Agriculture banned in 2004 the selling of cattle from all its farms (near 70) in order to set the example to the farming community and its own staff the value of the animals for agriculture. However, the minister of agriculture at that time questioned whether it was a decision based on science or religious philosophy! This reflects the sorry state of thinking by policy makers.

As a tribute to Dr. W, we have to rethink research and extension priorities (1) to make agriculture (in both food crops and export crops sectors) sustainable, (2) provide incentives to farmers to produce their own organic fertiliser.

National policies on sustainble technologies that would encompass several key institutions in agricultural research and development need priority. Universities and Schools of Agriculture in the country could instrument “brain change” to wean away the dependence syndrome.

Hopefully, the current minister of agriculture would take to heart Dr W’s view points.

By: magerata

magerata — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:40:15 +0000

What a brilliant article. I need to digest it properly before posting any comments but just by skimming through it, I learned a lot. The article is on my iPad now as I need to read it leisurely. Thank you for such a lengthy and descriptive write up.

By: justitia

justitia — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:29:18 +0000

To me, it is a mystery why the scientists of the Dept. of Agriculture disagree with the views of Dr. Wijewardene.
Farmers do want profits more than yields by marketing their produce in communities which demand same.
I remember how Sirima Bandaranaike ercted ‘Hal Pollas’ – barriers to prevent nothern farmers from marketing their bumper harvests of rice and red onions in the south, where there was a demand for same. She encouraged bread consumption – there were bread queues – and imported bombay onions to replace the red onion shortage.