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Himal Fonseka
Himal Fonseka, a senior programme specialist at the SAARC Agriculture Centre, tells New Age
by Shahidul Islam Chowdhury
EMPOWERMENT of farmers through policy support and incentive for young educated people to take interest in agriculture are necessary for sustainable production of quality food, says Himal Fonseka, a senior programme specialist at the SAARC Agriculture Centre in Dhaka.
If farmers are helped to make their own choices about agricultural inputs including seeds, and get a guaranteed price for their produces, it will encourage them to continue with farming, the Sri Lankan agricultural scientist told New Age in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
Fonseka believes South Asian countries can and should work together on agriculture with a view to eradicating hunger from the region. ‘For this, the countries need to be honest and show some commitment,’ he added.
Excerpts:
Boro, which requires intensive irrigation and other inputs, e.g. fertilisers and pesticides, constitutes 60 per cent of Bangladesh’s annual staple output. Don’t you think that increasing cultivation of irrigate boro poses a threat to agro-ecological balance?
Yes, I do. Farmers in Bangladesh are not utilising groundwater efficiently. They are just taking water up and putting it on rice fields. They hardly think that shortage of drinking water is a problem when most water sources are polluted. By doing so, they are bringing up arsenic, in many areas, with irrigation water. In addition, you are also inviting desertification in the
long run.
In a nutshell, you are getting into a complex situation. A lot of people are demanding drinking water and also crops.
So you need to supply food as well as water to the people. There are also environmental aspects. There needs to be a balance among the three.
In the past, farmers would prepare seeds themselves. Now, dealers have taken over, often creating artificial crisis and selling low-quality seeds.
Farmer’s seed is the best option for the poor people for their subsistence, for their livelihood and for fulfilment of their need. It is called subsistence agriculture when you produce something to eat.
But when the question of commercial production comes, when you need to produce more for commercial purpose, you need to maintain uniformity of crops. For that you would need to use perfect seed. I think hybrid seeds are good options in this case. Here, the government needs to regulate supply and quality of seeds used for commercial production. Unfortunately, in most countries in the region, there is no regulation.
In Sri Lanka, whatever seeds come in, they are first tested in government laboratories and then handed over to farmers for use. But here in Bangladesh, anybody can bring seeds and sell them to farmers. There is no effective regulation in Bangladesh. Who bears the consequences when something goes wrong in production? Poor farmers, nobody else.
How about farmers’ freedom over home-grown seed?
Once you buy hybrid, you cannot use it like other crops or what we call open-pollinated crops. There are crops that you can keep seeds of. The cycle, however, cannot go further. After two to three years you would not get seeds.
That is where the government should play a role. I think, in Bangladesh, the monopoly of hybrid seeds should not be kept protected for the private sector. The government should produce hybrid seeds to provide them to farmers at an affordable price.
Yes, hybrid seed production is costly and involves a lot of money, time and effort. The government has to do it. It is possible.
We blame the private sector. We need to keep in mind that they are for making profit through business.
The use of farm labour has decreased remarkably with the increase in the use of power tillers, motorised winnowers and many other tools. How do you look at the trend, keeping in consideration the employment situation?
Cow plough is becoming a tale of the past. Do you think that a young person would go behind cows now? What I want to say is agriculture should be made attractive for the young people. With increasing mechanisation, people do not want to get all muddy for work.
A lot of people including agriculture graduates even do not want to go to field now. They prefer to work at laboratories.
We face the problem in Sri Lanka too. I do not get people to work in the fields to get my research done. There are going to laboratories to work on biotechnology and tissue culture. Our generation is getting old. People who are based in agriculture are of the older generation. Once they are gone, agriculture would struggle to survive.
So to keep the younger generation on the field, agriculture has to be made attractive.
Labour cost is gradually increasing. Can farmers deploy high-priced labour for farming? No. You need to cut the cost establishing efficiency at every level of production. Combined harvest with a balance between job opportunities, cost of production and efficiency can be a choice.
Farmers are now switching to alternative products including hybrid vegetables and fruits in the same field where they used to produce paddy. What do you think about the trend?
I do not think the rice farmers are making paddy fields into mango orchards unless there is a good profit. We, Asians, are rice eaters. We do not compromise with it in any way. So, if things are not profitable, farmers will not switch to other crops. I think the root cause of the problem is cost of production and how we can sell the crops. If our farmers do not get a better price, they would oft for products that have a guaranteed price.
If the governments think that the farmers need to produce a crop that they do not produce, then it must ensure an attractive price for the crop.
We have a paddy market board in Sri Lanka to ensure good price for farmers. But still the private sector is involved in the market.
What is the state of agricultural research in Bangladesh?
I think Bangladesh is doing well in agricultural research. The BRRI has the capacity to analyse pesticide residues in farm products. BINA is a fantastic organisation working on application of nuclear technology in agriculture. We do not have any such facility in Sri Lanka. Those things can be utilised by other countries. What I can say is Bangladesh is better than Sri Lanka in agricultural research.
The giant big brother (India) is also doing well. Yes, Sri Lanka has an edge in education sector. I think we require better exchange between what richness we have and what richness the others have.
Are the South Asian countries cooperating with each other in agriculture under SAARC?
SAARC, for me, is like an EU and you call it like USA—United South Asia. That you can promote to share experiences and richness. The EU countries are moving together even though for they went against each other on many occasions. How many wars they fought! How many lives they lost by doing so! Still, they came together! 17 countries! They opened their border. They are using one currency, one visa, everything!
Why can we, the eight countries in South Asia, not do that despite sharing histories, languages, culture, everything. For Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, we derived our languages from Sanskrit. You say Khabi (eat?), we say Khamu! Same meaning! You say Subha Nababarsha (Happy New Year), we say Subha Nababarsha! Samity (cooperative) is Samity! So we have lots of things to cooperate with each other on. So, it is the duty of the politicians to use this sharing of commonalities to the betterment of the people. We have a lot to do to strengthen cooperation.
Yes. SAARC is there. We have centres in most countries on agriculture, weather and some other things. These people (experts) are connecting the countries in their respective areas. There are some other forums like BIMSTEC. However, we require some commitments to resolve things despite differences among us.
How can the interests of marginal farmers be protected when corporatisation of agriculture goes on unabated?
If you think politically, especially from left-leaning political perspectives, then you can say agriculture is becoming corporatised. Here come issues including intellectual property rights which can protect small farmers’ rights to produce crops the way they want to.
A lot of plants and their varieties have originated in South Asian countries including Bangladesh reflecting the rich natural biodiversity in this region. If you have a variety of agricultural products that is not available in other countries, you must protect the IPR of that product. Otherwise they (other countries) will analyse everything and claim IPR of that product as their product.
Farmers, however, need to be looked after by the government.
Is the SAARC Agriculture Centre doing anything in this regard?
We normally keep record of what is available including medicinal plants and others.
One thing I must add that in addition to sharing of good practices and knowledge we also require work sharing. If Bangladesh is doing one thing successfully, why would Sri Lanka do the same thing? Or, vice-versa? Individual countries have agreements on transferring technology. I think there should be a regional mechanism for technology transfer.
Will poor farmers get benefit of knowledge sharing, good practices and technology among SAARC member countries?
We are working to establish linkages among researchers, extension agents and farmers.
What is the SAARC Agriculture Centre doing to improve policies and strategies on agriculture in member countries?
SAC is providing inputs for developing regional policies and strategies primarily through developing networks in the crop, livestock and fisheries sectors for efficient utilisation of soil, water and other resources. It is not that one country is doing everything. We are working with participation of all the eight countries.
What about harmonisation of agricultural related standards?
Each and every country has its own facilities, policies, rules, regulations and standard. For instance, seed regulations. We think they require some harmonisation. That is another important thing we are trying to do.
Are all countries cooperating with each other on agricultural issues on the ground?
In think all the parties (countries) can work together on agriculture including seed production. But for this all parties need to be honest.
Which countries are not honest?
I should not comment.
Public-private partnership has become the buzzword now. Is it possible in agriculture?
The private sector is out to make profit through business. The public sector is expected to provide service to the people. So they require a compromise to provide people with service at an affordable cost. The private sector also provides some services to the communities.
They do it in the name of corporate social responsibility. Are they maintaining their corporate social accountability to the people?
I should not comment on that.
How can poor farmers cope up in this
complex situation?
People are now going beyond their traditional way of thinking and practices. We can only provide some guidelines. The farmers are very rational. They decide what crop they should produce and for this what seeds—hybrid or traditional—they would use. In the past, the farmers ploughed land with buffalos and sowed seeds. Now they are using machines. It is nothing but evolution of a system. The same thing happens to our food habit. We were habituated with rice and curry. Now noodles and bottled juice are found in remote village shops. Because there are consumers of these products.
However, I need to say that the rights of the farmers are required to be protected. The governments need to help them get agricultural inputs and services at an affordable price. The governments are also required to ensure fair price of their products. It will help farmers to make their own decision and continue farming.
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Himal Fonseka