Sunday Times: 20/01/2008" By Bandula Sirimanna
The CIC (Chemical Industries –Colombo- Ltd) group has launched a far sighted initiative to transform agriculture into a profitable venture creating awareness on modern agriculture methods leading to high productivity.
The company has invested one billion rupees for the financial year 2007/ 2008 to implement a massive agriculture production programme, according to CIC Chairman B.R.L. Fernando.
In an interview with The Sunday Times FT, he said the company is the only private sector organisation engaged in the production of a wide range of agricultural produce, livestock produce and marketing of agricultural inputs like fertilizer, agrochemicals, green houses, and micro irrigation systems. He said there is nothing that should be discarded or destroyed in a farm where anything can be used to enrich the fertility of the soil.
The traditional Sri Lankan farmers adopted such methods and reaped bumper harvests.
The latest Israeli irrigation technology introduced by the company is proving to be of great benefit to the Sri Lankan farmer and is being widely accepted for cultivation of Horticultural Crops, Cash Crops, Ornamental crops and vegetables, he said. CIC Agri Businesses, a member of the CIC Group, will export new varieties of rice to France and Australia under the CIC brand, he said. Fernando revealed that CIC has four rice varieties for the export market and has already introduced new red rice ‘Basmathi’ and a new coloured rice variety to the international and local markets. These two rice varieties were specially targeted at upmarket clients and there is a good demand for these types of rice varieties overseas, he said.
Currently Sri Lanka imports around 200.000 metric tons of high quality premium rice. “By cultivating the crop CIC hopes to reduce the quantity imported by around 10 per cent. Farmers will benefit from the project as they will be able to increase their income. They will be provided technical assistance and will be supported throughout the programme,” he said. Fernando added that “although there is a demand for high quality premium rice in Sri Lanka the country is not in a position to produce such rice due to the poor quality of rice mills.” It is to this niche area that CIC Agri Businesses has entered with an investment of over Rs. 110 million and the installation of an innovative rice processing facility at Maho following a tie up with Satake of Japan, rated as the world’s leading producer of rice milling equipment, Fernando said. The mill will provide 50 direct job opportunities and expects to commence commercial operations shortly. Nearly 2,000 out growers will supply paddy for this mill. The company will purchase paddy through a forward purchase agreement with these farmers.
Following comprehensive research and a development programme carried out in its farm, the company has developed over 10 rice types. Many traditional varieties such as Kalu Heenati, Elvee and Suwadel with attributed medicinal values have been identified and developed with improved productivity and aimed at international markets.
All these rice types are now marketed under the “Golden Crop” brand. In addition to growing in its three farms the company has acquired the services of over 3,000 farmers in the Mahaweli System B, C & H and have entrusted them with the task of multiplying the rice varieties identified and developed by the company.
Fernando noted that the country could achieve self sufficiency in rice through a well planned programme to improve the quality of seed and the capabilities of local farmers. “In most instances, the size of the land is small, therefore mechanisation is difficult while the younger generation doesn't like to till the land as the returns are small. As a solution to these problems, we are demonstrating techniques used in our farms to improve the agricultural practices in the country. We have also set up a lab in Pelwehera to analyze the soil and as a result we are in a position to recommend the fertiliser depending on the type of soil,” he said.
“CIC Agri Businesses has done well," Fernando said. "We moved up the yield from 55 bushels an acre to 125 bushels at Hingurakgoda. We're now supplying a fair quantity of seed paddy to the market. We want to raise the yield to 175 bushels." An example of the success of the company's technology transfer programme to farmers was the 200 bushels an acre achieved by farmers in Ampara. "So there's no reason why we can't get 175 bushels," Fernando said. "We need to resuscitate the soil - we collect cow dung, husks, and grow glyricidia on our farms to put more green matter into soil as this will increase yield.” Our focus is on soil and water management while streamlining the fertilizer regime," he added. "Till now we put one particular mix into all the soils. We're now looking at specialised blends for different soils," he said.
To improve CIC’s portfolio the company moved to the agricultural sector with the acquisition of the Mahaweli Farm in Thalawa way back in the later 1990's, as well as Hingurakgoda, Pelwehera Mahaweli farms and 50 acres at Dehiattakandiya. At present CIC is the largest seed paddy producer in the country and the market leader in fertilizer imports. The company is also engaged in the animal feed and pesticide businesses.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
CIC transforming agriculture to a profitable venture
Monday, January 07, 2008
Business of poverty: A business priority
Daily Mirror: 07/01/2008" By Sahan Kulatunga
How can the corporate sector play a more effective part in tackling poverty? Can we assume that encouraging the corporate sector to invest in low-income consumer segments results in greater access to economic development for the poor and greater tax revenues directed towards social programs?
Is it practicable to position the corporate sector as an agent in the delivery of the international Millennium Development Goals and the poverty reduction strategies of national governments? Conversely, are we right to believe that progress towards poverty reduction reinforces economic and political stability, helps markets to grow, and provides a platform for private sector development?
According to Central Bank statistics, currently around 23% of the Sri Lankan population live below the poverty line, which itself is questionable due to the mechanism used in calculating the per capita income and the actual purchasing power of an average household. Considerable variations in poverty levels can be observed across sectors and districts, which also need to be taken into consideration. There are a number of factors that have contributed to the persistence of poverty in Sri Lanka. Neither the economic growth rate nor its distributive effects during the last two decades have been sufficient to bring about a significant reduction in poverty levels in the country. Moreover, the civil war which has lasted for over 20 years has caused immense human suffering and deprivation. Low productivity in the agricultural sector, poor infrastructure facilities and limited access to basic social services in rural areas, labor market distortions and problems of governance have also contributed to the high prevalence of poverty in Sri Lanka.
In the quest for sustainable development, eliminating poverty is the key challenge facing not only the government and civil society, but also businesses. Traditionally, ‘business’ has played a crucial role in providing routes from poverty to prosperity, pursuing profit and in the process generating wealth, products and services, innovation and technical advances, jobs and tax revenues. Businesses of all sizes relate to the poor as consumers, staff, suppliers and distributors, and in some cases as neighbours. However, such a business-as-usual approach is clearly not lifting the majority of the people out of poverty: people who survive on less than US$2 per day. The formal sector barely serves the poorest of these people, who must rely on the informal sector and their own production as their main source for products, services and income. Furthermore, many of the poor are suffering from the negative impacts of business activities, from environmental pollution to human rights abuses. While the primary role of business is to provide the “engine of growth”, recognition is growing that the private sector can and should do more to combat poverty, and that this unrealized potential offers both a commercial and a social opportunity. A comprehensive approach to poverty elimination is needed, one in which public, private and voluntary sectors attack the multiple dimensions and causes of poverty.
Poverty is a multi-faceted construct, with social, cultural, economic, and political factors at play, so much so that the solution to poverty has to be equally multi-faceted, involving governments, NGOs, bilateral and multi-lateral development institutions. Curiously, the business sector has thus far neither sought a significant role in poverty reduction, nor has it been awarded one. In the past, its contributions have predominantly come under the umbrella of “Corporate Social Responsibility”, an extension of its role as a good corporate citizen. Accordingly, the involvement of the business sector in poverty alleviation has been overwhelmingly driven by a philanthropic rather than a business motive. Nonetheless, there are cases where businesses, while not setting out to address poverty issues, do reach out to the poor as customers and potentially contribute substantially to the solution of the persistent problem of poverty.
Multinationals and the Poor
The world’s multinational corporations – 63,000 of them at last count – frequently find themselves the target of criticism by the world’s anti-globalization protesters. MNCs, the protesters charge, are principally responsible for the impoverishment of many of the world’s six billion people. While global corporations have unquestionably brought greater wealth, power and opportunity to the poor world, especially China and India, according to the World Bank some two billion people still live in countries or regions that have been left behind, becoming in fact less globalized. In these places trade has diminished in relation to national income, foreign investment and economic growth have stagnated, and poverty has risen. Most Africans were better off 40 years ago. The average per capita income of Muslims – from Morocco to Bangladesh and beyond, to Indonesia and the Philippines – is half the world average. Thus, while globalization has benefited many, one-sixth of the world’s people live in what the International Finance Corporation calls “deep poverty”, as described in a 2004 speech by Peter Woicke, then IFC’s executive vice president. For example, at a recent meeting of the World Economic Forum anti-globalization protesters waved signs reading: “Our resistance is as global as your oppression”.
MNC involvement is crucial to poverty reduction for two reasons: First, the reduction of poverty depends on the growth of business, especially small, domestic businesses. And increasingly, for a local business to flourish it must have access to the world: to markets, credit, and technology, all facilitated by MNCs. The second reason is less obvious and more controversial. Poverty reduction requires systemic change, and MNCs are the world’s most efficient and sustainable engines of change. They provide political leverage with local governments, they offer opportunity for people who are convinced there is none, they motivate the young to learn and organize to gain power, and they build roads and hospitals and other infrastructure. MNC’s in developing countries are often the first choice for private sector jobs by young people, who are attracted by the higher salaries and the learning opportunities. And wise governments get the private sector to do as much spending on infrastructure as possible in order to protect their own treasuries. Many of the world’s poor live in countries where governments lack either the desire or the ability to raise living standards on their own. Financial assistance to such countries– some US$2.5 trillion has been provided in the last 50 years – has often not helped the neediest citizens. In fact, it may have worsened their plight by sustaining the corrupt or otherwise inefficient governments that contribute to their misery, by leaving nations with mountainous debt.
The way forward
In such mismanaged countries, a way must be found to change the basic system. Many multinationals have done just this, while at the same time making profits upon which their survival depends; Nestlé and Unilever in India, Coca-Cola in Venezuela, and Intel in Costa Rica are but a few examples. Their initiatives not only provide jobs and raise income levels, they also improve education and give individuals the motivation to pursue it. Education, after all, requires more than just buildings, teachers and texts. In much of the developing world, the poor lack of faith that change is possible; few believe in the existence of a social or economic ladder that, with proper education, can be used to climb out of poverty.
The success of a DaimlerChrysler project in Brazil’s poverty-stricken northeast, provides another example of a corporation changing the system to reduce poverty. In 1992, under pressure from the Green Party in Germany, DaimlerBenz, as it was then known, looked for ways to use renewable natural fibers in its automobiles. At the same time, the Brazilian government demanded that manufacturing facilities in the country increase their local content. To address both problems, the head of Daimler in Brazil arranged with POEMA, a local anti-poverty program in Belem, to construct a modern, high-tech factory that would make headrests and seats out of coco fibers from locally grown trees. As of today some 5,200 people are employed in this project. For these formerly impoverished Brazilians, life dramatically changed for the better; children attend school, people are active in local politics, and health facilities have improved. This reinforces the notion that MNCs have the unmatched power and competence to reduce global poverty. Increasingly, world opinion, as well as the inclinations of their own managers and staff, urges MNCs to use that power more effectively. A regional example is the success of Grameen Bank in developing microfinance in Bangladesh as a successful commercial operation which has led to global interest in the process. Grameen Bank totally focused on Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (BOP) customers with an average loan size of less than $20 when it started. There are more than 17,000 microfinance operations that are variants of the Grameen concept around the world, including in Sri Lanka. The microfinance revolution now has its own global conference every year.
Breaking the power
of dominant logic
A principal enemy of innovation and out of the box thinking is, cultural norms, described as the “dominant logic” of a community or organization. Dominant logic can stifle openness and receptivity to new ideas, practices and business models. Consider, for instance, the politicians and bureaucrats in India, one of the largest countries with a significant portion of the world’s poor. India is home to more than 400 million people who qualify as being very poor. The policies of the government for the first 45 years since independence from Great Britain in 1947 were based on a set of basic assumptions. Independent India started with a deep suspicion of the private sector. The country’s interaction with the East India Company and colonialism played a major part in creating this mindset. The experience with the indigenous private sector was not very positive either. The private sector was deemed exploitative of the poor. This suspicion was coupled with an enormous confidence in the government machinery to do what is “right and moral”. For example, the government of India initiated a series of large industrial projects in the public sector (owned by the Indian government) in a wide variety of industries, from steel to food distribution and global trading in essential commodities. India’s general suspicion of the private sector led to controls over its size and expansion.
The focus of public policy was on distributive justice over wealth creation. Because of the disparities in wealth and the predominance of the poor, the government thought its first priority must be policies that “equalized” wealth distribution. Taxation, limits on salaries of top managers, and other such measures were instituted to ensure distributive justice. The discussion further polarized around the somewhat contrived concepts of rural poor and urban rich. The assumption was that the rural population was primarily poor and the urban population was relatively rich. However, the data increasingly does not support this distinction. There are as many rural rich as there are urban poor. Poverty knows no such boundaries. In the developing world, more than one third of the urban population lives in shanty towns and slums. These traditional views reflect the philosophy behind actions taken by bureaucrats and politicians. During the last decade, a slow but sustainable transition has been taking place from the traditional to a more market-based outlook.
This, much-needed and desirable transition is in its infancy. The dominant logic, built over 45 years, is difficult to give up for individuals, political parties, and sections of the bureaucracy. This is the reason why politicians and bureaucrats appear to be vacillating in their positions. Most thinking people know where they have to go, but letting go of their beliefs and abandoning their “zones of comfort” and familiarity are not easy. It is equally difficult for a whole generation of BOP consumers to give up their dependence on governmental subsidies. Private-sector businesses, especially MNCs (and large local firms that emulate their MNC competitors), also suffer from a deeply etched dominant logic of their own, which restricts their ability to see a vibrant market opportunity at the BOP. We have to change our long-held beliefs about the BOP. The barrier that each group has to cross is different, but difficult nonetheless. However, once we cross the intellectual barrier, the opportunities become obvious. The BOP market represents a major engine of growth and global trade.
How can the corporate sector play a more effective part in tackling poverty? Can we assume that encouraging the corporate sector to invest in low-income consumer segments results in greater access to economic development for the poor and greater tax revenues directed towards social programs?
Is it practicable to position the corporate sector as an agent in the delivery of the international Millennium Development Goals and the poverty reduction strategies of national governments? Conversely, are we right to believe that progress towards poverty reduction reinforces economic and political stability, helps markets to grow, and provides a platform for private sector development?
According to Central Bank statistics, currently around 23% of the Sri Lankan population live below the poverty line, which itself is questionable due to the mechanism used in calculating the per capita income and the actual purchasing power of an average household. Considerable variations in poverty levels can be observed across sectors and districts, which also need to be taken into consideration. There are a number of factors that have contributed to the persistence of poverty in Sri Lanka. Neither the economic growth rate nor its distributive effects during the last two decades have been sufficient to bring about a significant reduction in poverty levels in the country. Moreover, the civil war which has lasted for over 20 years has caused immense human suffering and deprivation. Low productivity in the agricultural sector, poor infrastructure facilities and limited access to basic social services in rural areas, labor market distortions and problems of governance have also contributed to the high prevalence of poverty in Sri Lanka.
In the quest for sustainable development, eliminating poverty is the key challenge facing not only the government and civil society, but also businesses. Traditionally, ‘business’ has played a crucial role in providing routes from poverty to prosperity, pursuing profit and in the process generating wealth, products and services, innovation and technical advances, jobs and tax revenues. Businesses of all sizes relate to the poor as consumers, staff, suppliers and distributors, and in some cases as neighbours. However, such a business-as-usual approach is clearly not lifting the majority of the people out of poverty: people who survive on less than US$2 per day. The formal sector barely serves the poorest of these people, who must rely on the informal sector and their own production as their main source for products, services and income. Furthermore, many of the poor are suffering from the negative impacts of business activities, from environmental pollution to human rights abuses. While the primary role of business is to provide the “engine of growth”, recognition is growing that the private sector can and should do more to combat poverty, and that this unrealized potential offers both a commercial and a social opportunity. A comprehensive approach to poverty elimination is needed, one in which public, private and voluntary sectors attack the multiple dimensions and causes of poverty.
Poverty is a multi-faceted construct, with social, cultural, economic, and political factors at play, so much so that the solution to poverty has to be equally multi-faceted, involving governments, NGOs, bilateral and multi-lateral development institutions. Curiously, the business sector has thus far neither sought a significant role in poverty reduction, nor has it been awarded one. In the past, its contributions have predominantly come under the umbrella of “Corporate Social Responsibility”, an extension of its role as a good corporate citizen. Accordingly, the involvement of the business sector in poverty alleviation has been overwhelmingly driven by a philanthropic rather than a business motive. Nonetheless, there are cases where businesses, while not setting out to address poverty issues, do reach out to the poor as customers and potentially contribute substantially to the solution of the persistent problem of poverty.
Multinationals and the Poor
The world’s multinational corporations – 63,000 of them at last count – frequently find themselves the target of criticism by the world’s anti-globalization protesters. MNCs, the protesters charge, are principally responsible for the impoverishment of many of the world’s six billion people. While global corporations have unquestionably brought greater wealth, power and opportunity to the poor world, especially China and India, according to the World Bank some two billion people still live in countries or regions that have been left behind, becoming in fact less globalized. In these places trade has diminished in relation to national income, foreign investment and economic growth have stagnated, and poverty has risen. Most Africans were better off 40 years ago. The average per capita income of Muslims – from Morocco to Bangladesh and beyond, to Indonesia and the Philippines – is half the world average. Thus, while globalization has benefited many, one-sixth of the world’s people live in what the International Finance Corporation calls “deep poverty”, as described in a 2004 speech by Peter Woicke, then IFC’s executive vice president. For example, at a recent meeting of the World Economic Forum anti-globalization protesters waved signs reading: “Our resistance is as global as your oppression”.
MNC involvement is crucial to poverty reduction for two reasons: First, the reduction of poverty depends on the growth of business, especially small, domestic businesses. And increasingly, for a local business to flourish it must have access to the world: to markets, credit, and technology, all facilitated by MNCs. The second reason is less obvious and more controversial. Poverty reduction requires systemic change, and MNCs are the world’s most efficient and sustainable engines of change. They provide political leverage with local governments, they offer opportunity for people who are convinced there is none, they motivate the young to learn and organize to gain power, and they build roads and hospitals and other infrastructure. MNC’s in developing countries are often the first choice for private sector jobs by young people, who are attracted by the higher salaries and the learning opportunities. And wise governments get the private sector to do as much spending on infrastructure as possible in order to protect their own treasuries. Many of the world’s poor live in countries where governments lack either the desire or the ability to raise living standards on their own. Financial assistance to such countries– some US$2.5 trillion has been provided in the last 50 years – has often not helped the neediest citizens. In fact, it may have worsened their plight by sustaining the corrupt or otherwise inefficient governments that contribute to their misery, by leaving nations with mountainous debt.
The way forward
In such mismanaged countries, a way must be found to change the basic system. Many multinationals have done just this, while at the same time making profits upon which their survival depends; Nestlé and Unilever in India, Coca-Cola in Venezuela, and Intel in Costa Rica are but a few examples. Their initiatives not only provide jobs and raise income levels, they also improve education and give individuals the motivation to pursue it. Education, after all, requires more than just buildings, teachers and texts. In much of the developing world, the poor lack of faith that change is possible; few believe in the existence of a social or economic ladder that, with proper education, can be used to climb out of poverty.
The success of a DaimlerChrysler project in Brazil’s poverty-stricken northeast, provides another example of a corporation changing the system to reduce poverty. In 1992, under pressure from the Green Party in Germany, DaimlerBenz, as it was then known, looked for ways to use renewable natural fibers in its automobiles. At the same time, the Brazilian government demanded that manufacturing facilities in the country increase their local content. To address both problems, the head of Daimler in Brazil arranged with POEMA, a local anti-poverty program in Belem, to construct a modern, high-tech factory that would make headrests and seats out of coco fibers from locally grown trees. As of today some 5,200 people are employed in this project. For these formerly impoverished Brazilians, life dramatically changed for the better; children attend school, people are active in local politics, and health facilities have improved. This reinforces the notion that MNCs have the unmatched power and competence to reduce global poverty. Increasingly, world opinion, as well as the inclinations of their own managers and staff, urges MNCs to use that power more effectively. A regional example is the success of Grameen Bank in developing microfinance in Bangladesh as a successful commercial operation which has led to global interest in the process. Grameen Bank totally focused on Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (BOP) customers with an average loan size of less than $20 when it started. There are more than 17,000 microfinance operations that are variants of the Grameen concept around the world, including in Sri Lanka. The microfinance revolution now has its own global conference every year.
Breaking the power
of dominant logic
A principal enemy of innovation and out of the box thinking is, cultural norms, described as the “dominant logic” of a community or organization. Dominant logic can stifle openness and receptivity to new ideas, practices and business models. Consider, for instance, the politicians and bureaucrats in India, one of the largest countries with a significant portion of the world’s poor. India is home to more than 400 million people who qualify as being very poor. The policies of the government for the first 45 years since independence from Great Britain in 1947 were based on a set of basic assumptions. Independent India started with a deep suspicion of the private sector. The country’s interaction with the East India Company and colonialism played a major part in creating this mindset. The experience with the indigenous private sector was not very positive either. The private sector was deemed exploitative of the poor. This suspicion was coupled with an enormous confidence in the government machinery to do what is “right and moral”. For example, the government of India initiated a series of large industrial projects in the public sector (owned by the Indian government) in a wide variety of industries, from steel to food distribution and global trading in essential commodities. India’s general suspicion of the private sector led to controls over its size and expansion.
The focus of public policy was on distributive justice over wealth creation. Because of the disparities in wealth and the predominance of the poor, the government thought its first priority must be policies that “equalized” wealth distribution. Taxation, limits on salaries of top managers, and other such measures were instituted to ensure distributive justice. The discussion further polarized around the somewhat contrived concepts of rural poor and urban rich. The assumption was that the rural population was primarily poor and the urban population was relatively rich. However, the data increasingly does not support this distinction. There are as many rural rich as there are urban poor. Poverty knows no such boundaries. In the developing world, more than one third of the urban population lives in shanty towns and slums. These traditional views reflect the philosophy behind actions taken by bureaucrats and politicians. During the last decade, a slow but sustainable transition has been taking place from the traditional to a more market-based outlook.
This, much-needed and desirable transition is in its infancy. The dominant logic, built over 45 years, is difficult to give up for individuals, political parties, and sections of the bureaucracy. This is the reason why politicians and bureaucrats appear to be vacillating in their positions. Most thinking people know where they have to go, but letting go of their beliefs and abandoning their “zones of comfort” and familiarity are not easy. It is equally difficult for a whole generation of BOP consumers to give up their dependence on governmental subsidies. Private-sector businesses, especially MNCs (and large local firms that emulate their MNC competitors), also suffer from a deeply etched dominant logic of their own, which restricts their ability to see a vibrant market opportunity at the BOP. We have to change our long-held beliefs about the BOP. The barrier that each group has to cross is different, but difficult nonetheless. However, once we cross the intellectual barrier, the opportunities become obvious. The BOP market represents a major engine of growth and global trade.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
SRI LANKA: Renewed fighting delays reconstruction in north and east
IRIN: 02/01/2008"
Three years after the tsunami devastated Sri Lanka, the island’s eastern and northern districts which were hardest hit, lag far behind southern areas in post-tsunami recovery.
The rest of the country is showing impressive results, according to officials at the Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA), who say over 90 percent of the intended new houses have been constructed. But reconstruction in the north and east has been delayed significantly by ongoing violence between government forces and the Tamil Tigers which began anew in December 2005.
Ramesh Selliah, director of housing at RADA, told IRIN that housing reconstruction efforts in the rest of the island could be completed by mid-2008, the end of RADA’s tenure. He, however, was reluctant to give a time frame for completion of the work in the north and east.
“It might take some time in the north and east where there have been delays,” he said.
By May 2007, of the 19,700 new houses slated to be built in the six districts in the north and east, only 4,400, or 22 percent had been completed, according to RADA figures. In contrast, in the three worst hit districts in the south, Hambantota, Matara and Galle, over 60 percent of the houses had been completed by mid 2007.
Despite suffering over 60 percent of deaths and displacements from the tsunami, according to the Post Tsunami Recovery and Reconstruction report compiled by the Sri Lankan government and its donor partners in 2006 December, the rebuilding effort in the north and east has suffered greatly due to the eruption of conflict and resulting restrictions and security fears.
Transport restrictions
Some areas like the northern Jaffna Peninsula and the Tamil Tiger-controlled areas in the north face severe transport restrictions that have brought reconstruction work to a complete standstill in some instances, according to Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, a Colombo-based economist who specialises on the conflict areas.
“Naturally, with the intensification of the conflict, tsunami reconstruction has been put on the back burner,” he told IRIN. “Mullaithivu District [which is controlled by the Tamil Tigers] is lagging behind all other districts, but very little information is available about the actual situation,” Sarvananthan said. “I know for sure that housing construction for tsunami victims in Mullaithivu has come to a complete halt since the closure of the A9 [highway] in August 2006.”
“The reconstruction programme in the north and east is likely to take some more time due to the ongoing conflict-related issues,” the World Bank said in its latest update on tsunami reconstruction.
The effects of the slowdown in the reconstruction effort are not limited to housing only, as reports filed by agencies show.
Income disparities
World Vision found glaring income disparities between the south and the east in its Tsunami Response Final Report. “Incomes in the south are now higher than pre-tsunami levels, whereas in the east incomes have dropped 25 percent lower than pre-tsunami levels,” it said.
At least in the east, with relative calm returning in mid-2007, some of the suspended projects have restarted. However, the opposite is true in the north where the conflict has intensified.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent Societies (IFRC), the single largest funder of new housing construction, said programmes in the north still remain in limbo due to the fighting.
“In the north of the country, the vast majority of IFRC operations have already been suspended and it is difficult to prepare future operations in the current political and military climate,” the IFRC said in its Federation-wide Tsunami Semi-annual Report on Sri Lanka released in December.
The situation is unlikely to improve any time soon, according to Bhavani Fonseka, a senior researcher at the Colombo based think-tank, the Centre for Policy Alternatives.
“It is very difficult to predict anything in the northeast, given what occurred in the last year; it will not change overnight, it is hard to give a time frame when things will improve,” she told IRIN.
Three years after the tsunami devastated Sri Lanka, the island’s eastern and northern districts which were hardest hit, lag far behind southern areas in post-tsunami recovery.
The rest of the country is showing impressive results, according to officials at the Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA), who say over 90 percent of the intended new houses have been constructed. But reconstruction in the north and east has been delayed significantly by ongoing violence between government forces and the Tamil Tigers which began anew in December 2005.
Ramesh Selliah, director of housing at RADA, told IRIN that housing reconstruction efforts in the rest of the island could be completed by mid-2008, the end of RADA’s tenure. He, however, was reluctant to give a time frame for completion of the work in the north and east.
“It might take some time in the north and east where there have been delays,” he said.
By May 2007, of the 19,700 new houses slated to be built in the six districts in the north and east, only 4,400, or 22 percent had been completed, according to RADA figures. In contrast, in the three worst hit districts in the south, Hambantota, Matara and Galle, over 60 percent of the houses had been completed by mid 2007.
Despite suffering over 60 percent of deaths and displacements from the tsunami, according to the Post Tsunami Recovery and Reconstruction report compiled by the Sri Lankan government and its donor partners in 2006 December, the rebuilding effort in the north and east has suffered greatly due to the eruption of conflict and resulting restrictions and security fears.
Transport restrictions
Some areas like the northern Jaffna Peninsula and the Tamil Tiger-controlled areas in the north face severe transport restrictions that have brought reconstruction work to a complete standstill in some instances, according to Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, a Colombo-based economist who specialises on the conflict areas.
“Naturally, with the intensification of the conflict, tsunami reconstruction has been put on the back burner,” he told IRIN. “Mullaithivu District [which is controlled by the Tamil Tigers] is lagging behind all other districts, but very little information is available about the actual situation,” Sarvananthan said. “I know for sure that housing construction for tsunami victims in Mullaithivu has come to a complete halt since the closure of the A9 [highway] in August 2006.”
“The reconstruction programme in the north and east is likely to take some more time due to the ongoing conflict-related issues,” the World Bank said in its latest update on tsunami reconstruction.
The effects of the slowdown in the reconstruction effort are not limited to housing only, as reports filed by agencies show.
Income disparities
World Vision found glaring income disparities between the south and the east in its Tsunami Response Final Report. “Incomes in the south are now higher than pre-tsunami levels, whereas in the east incomes have dropped 25 percent lower than pre-tsunami levels,” it said.
At least in the east, with relative calm returning in mid-2007, some of the suspended projects have restarted. However, the opposite is true in the north where the conflict has intensified.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent Societies (IFRC), the single largest funder of new housing construction, said programmes in the north still remain in limbo due to the fighting.
“In the north of the country, the vast majority of IFRC operations have already been suspended and it is difficult to prepare future operations in the current political and military climate,” the IFRC said in its Federation-wide Tsunami Semi-annual Report on Sri Lanka released in December.
The situation is unlikely to improve any time soon, according to Bhavani Fonseka, a senior researcher at the Colombo based think-tank, the Centre for Policy Alternatives.
“It is very difficult to predict anything in the northeast, given what occurred in the last year; it will not change overnight, it is hard to give a time frame when things will improve,” she told IRIN.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Leading industrialist disgusted with Govt’s apathetic attitude
The Island: 31/12/2007" by Sunil C. Perera
A leading organic food manufacturer and exporter, Bio Foods [PVT] Ltd., complains a number of government agencies do not attend to solve entrepreneurs’ grievances to smooth their manufacturing processes.
At present the company maintains good growth and it is the only company which received the world’s first Fair Trade Registered Processor and Exporter of Organic Spices award and wants to be the best in its field in South East Asia.
The company produces value-added products in green and black tea, spices, herbs, curry powder, desiccated coconut, cashew, treacle, juggery and coconut oil. These products are exported to selected overseas buyers in Europe and Asia, paying a premium with part of it going to farmers and producers in the country for their social welfare.
Chairman and the Managing Director of the Bio Foods [PVT] Ltd., Eco Foods [PVT] Ltd. and Biodynamic [PVT] Ltd Dr. Sarath Ranaweera said that his company has made complaints to all responsible government authorities, but the authorities maintain a deafening silence to his complaints.
At present, the company suffers lack of infrastructure at its factory located in Seethavalley Estate, Nillabe, in the Central Province. The other companies manufacture value added organic teas, spices and herbs for the export market, mainly to European countries. The Chairman said his plan was to earn Rs. 500 millions as turnover. These projects daily generate additional employment to a large number of people in the area and also a large number of small farmers in the district will be greatly benefited.
"Our manufacturing plants and the processing units are located in this estate (Seethavalley) and the lack of telecommunication facilities, motorable roads, proper commuter services and other basic infrastructure," he said.
The company has made written complaints to the Ministry of Industrial Development, the BOI, Sri Lanka Telecom, Regional Transport Board and also made frequent verbal complaints to the area ministers and the top level government officials.
"So far we have only received only written responses from those ministries, but our requests are still on hold and the company has to face obstacles, despite which the company exports large stocks of organic food products," he said with an air of resignation.
"We took our problems to Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, but sad to say, the problems have worsened and production will be affected in the long run," he woefully lamented.
According to the BOI, it involves itself with industrialists’ problems to find positive solutions. However, that does not seem to be so with this company, as far as I can see.
Bio Foods’ James Valley Organic Tea Factory was recently awarded the one star rating of the Ceylon Quality Certificate under the Quality Management System of the Sri Lanka Tea Board. Value addition at Bio Foods is 90 per cent with raw materials coming from nearby fields while Rs 2.3 million is spent annually on international certification.
A leading organic food manufacturer and exporter, Bio Foods [PVT] Ltd., complains a number of government agencies do not attend to solve entrepreneurs’ grievances to smooth their manufacturing processes.
At present the company maintains good growth and it is the only company which received the world’s first Fair Trade Registered Processor and Exporter of Organic Spices award and wants to be the best in its field in South East Asia.
The company produces value-added products in green and black tea, spices, herbs, curry powder, desiccated coconut, cashew, treacle, juggery and coconut oil. These products are exported to selected overseas buyers in Europe and Asia, paying a premium with part of it going to farmers and producers in the country for their social welfare.
Chairman and the Managing Director of the Bio Foods [PVT] Ltd., Eco Foods [PVT] Ltd. and Biodynamic [PVT] Ltd Dr. Sarath Ranaweera said that his company has made complaints to all responsible government authorities, but the authorities maintain a deafening silence to his complaints.
At present, the company suffers lack of infrastructure at its factory located in Seethavalley Estate, Nillabe, in the Central Province. The other companies manufacture value added organic teas, spices and herbs for the export market, mainly to European countries. The Chairman said his plan was to earn Rs. 500 millions as turnover. These projects daily generate additional employment to a large number of people in the area and also a large number of small farmers in the district will be greatly benefited.
"Our manufacturing plants and the processing units are located in this estate (Seethavalley) and the lack of telecommunication facilities, motorable roads, proper commuter services and other basic infrastructure," he said.
The company has made written complaints to the Ministry of Industrial Development, the BOI, Sri Lanka Telecom, Regional Transport Board and also made frequent verbal complaints to the area ministers and the top level government officials.
"So far we have only received only written responses from those ministries, but our requests are still on hold and the company has to face obstacles, despite which the company exports large stocks of organic food products," he said with an air of resignation.
"We took our problems to Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, but sad to say, the problems have worsened and production will be affected in the long run," he woefully lamented.
According to the BOI, it involves itself with industrialists’ problems to find positive solutions. However, that does not seem to be so with this company, as far as I can see.
Bio Foods’ James Valley Organic Tea Factory was recently awarded the one star rating of the Ceylon Quality Certificate under the Quality Management System of the Sri Lanka Tea Board. Value addition at Bio Foods is 90 per cent with raw materials coming from nearby fields while Rs 2.3 million is spent annually on international certification.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Highlights from Sri Jayewardenepura research symposium
The Island: 29/12/2007"
Research papers presented at the International Forestry Environment Symposium held recently organized by Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, highlighted many new channels of economic development some of which are listed below.
Usually rubber plantations are used for extraction of latex; but it has high carbon trading potential. Based on estimated models, high carbon content such as 47MT was achieved from rubber trees at the age of 23 years, which yields carbon benefits of 77,000 per hectare. .
Heavea rubber can be used for reducing greenhouse effect in several ways. Naturally producing latex in Heavea rubber trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Due to the increasing number of seedlings to be planted per hectare, all the rubber growing countries can increase CO2 absorption. This would help to earn money for rubber growing countries under Kyoto protocol.
Rubber wood is used as firewood and chemically treated rubber wood can be used in furniture industry, reducing felling of forest tress. Rubber seed oil, after chemical modification is a proven replacement for diesel to be used for motor vehicles, reducing use of fossil fuels.
Japan Jabara a problematic aquatic weed in Sri Lanka has received scientific attention for Biological Control, as safe application of Herbicides is not possible. Scientists at University of Sri Jayewardenepura discovered that dry leaf powder of Gandapana trees could effectively be used for controlling the weed.
There is no specific drug or vaccine for the treatment or prevention from the dengue and chikunguina in the country. Therefore, controlling the vector is the best strategy for dengue control. A mosquito species scientifically named as Toxorhynchites splendens has been identified as a predator insect that can be used to control dengue and chikunguina mosquito larvae Aedes albopictus. This predator insect does not feed on blood and cannot act as vectors of the diseases.
A huge extent of forests in Sri Lanka has been fragmented and therefore animals have to live in the pereiphery and not inside the forests. The conditions inside a forest are different to the conditions on the edges of it. A remarkable disparity was discovered, in the abundance of the endemic and non-endemic small mammals between inside forests and forest edges. (VH)
Research papers presented at the International Forestry Environment Symposium held recently organized by Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, highlighted many new channels of economic development some of which are listed below.
Usually rubber plantations are used for extraction of latex; but it has high carbon trading potential. Based on estimated models, high carbon content such as 47MT was achieved from rubber trees at the age of 23 years, which yields carbon benefits of 77,000 per hectare. .
Heavea rubber can be used for reducing greenhouse effect in several ways. Naturally producing latex in Heavea rubber trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Due to the increasing number of seedlings to be planted per hectare, all the rubber growing countries can increase CO2 absorption. This would help to earn money for rubber growing countries under Kyoto protocol.
Rubber wood is used as firewood and chemically treated rubber wood can be used in furniture industry, reducing felling of forest tress. Rubber seed oil, after chemical modification is a proven replacement for diesel to be used for motor vehicles, reducing use of fossil fuels.
Japan Jabara a problematic aquatic weed in Sri Lanka has received scientific attention for Biological Control, as safe application of Herbicides is not possible. Scientists at University of Sri Jayewardenepura discovered that dry leaf powder of Gandapana trees could effectively be used for controlling the weed.
There is no specific drug or vaccine for the treatment or prevention from the dengue and chikunguina in the country. Therefore, controlling the vector is the best strategy for dengue control. A mosquito species scientifically named as Toxorhynchites splendens has been identified as a predator insect that can be used to control dengue and chikunguina mosquito larvae Aedes albopictus. This predator insect does not feed on blood and cannot act as vectors of the diseases.
A huge extent of forests in Sri Lanka has been fragmented and therefore animals have to live in the pereiphery and not inside the forests. The conditions inside a forest are different to the conditions on the edges of it. A remarkable disparity was discovered, in the abundance of the endemic and non-endemic small mammals between inside forests and forest edges. (VH)
Boost spice production to improve rural economy
The Island: 29/12/2007" by S. B. Karalliyadda
The talk in the town and village today is the sky racketing cost of living and how the ordinary citizen can face this situation. No one talks about the prices of minor export crops that are freely available and easily grown in the villages. These crops played a vital role in our agrarian economy long before the introduction of plantations such as coffee tea cocoa etc. by the Britishers. The changes brought about by the introduction of a plantation economy had adverse effects to our religion-cultural and social value systems. The Waste Land Tax No. 19 of 1840, the Land Tax Act No. 5 of 1866 and the Grain Tax which was abolished by Governor Arther Havelock in 1892 were some of the Acts that changed the village agrarian economy. The prices of all minor export crops such as pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves coffee etc; that are grown easily and less labour intensive also fetch high prices to boost the income of the average village farmer. Not only these export crops but also other agricultural produce such as tea, rubber and coconuts fetch the highest recorded price in the recent times. It should be remembered that over sixty percent of our population are rural and live in the villages. Eighty percent of them are poor and thirty percent live in abject poverty. Per capita income in the Western Province and Colombo District is higher than in any other Province or District in the Island. This may be due to the availability of infrastructure specially a good road network. If one can reminiscence the Districts that these crops grow it can be seen that except for the North and East in most other Districts spices are grown. The land has been blocked out and used for construction purposes. In the Districts of Matale, Kandy, Kegalla etc; where rubber cocoa and pepper are grown in abundance the production of these crops have become minimal thus affecting the income levels of the rural masses. Apart from reduction of the land area available for minor export crops, the available extent is infertile due to soil erosion, fragmentation, haphazard contour drains and other bad land management practices which has led to the degrading of the soil. There were Extension Workers from various Departments who liaise with the villager closely and advised him on laying contour drains, soil erosion, good practices to enhance their coops production etc; but unfortunately such extension services are not seen today. This should receive the special attention of the ‘Gama Neguma’ programme under Mahinda Chintanaya. What a government could do to improve the village economy is to create avenues to earn more income through agrarian and agricultural practices and get better prices for their village agriculture and export products. Taking industries to the villages and industrialisation of villages will have a deep impact on their cultural ethos and rid the value systems that bond the villager together. As Mahatma Gandhi said if the village perishes the whole county will perish as more than sixty percent of our country is rural. The net results of these lapses is that our contribution to the global market needs is less than 4%. It is observed that our cinnamon production which was 12336 MT in 2004 reduced to 11391 in 2006. Similarly 2478 MT of cloves exported in 2004, dropped to 2376 MT. Pepper recorded an increase of 7856 MT in 2006 from the level of 4851 MT in 2004 (Daily News 27.11.2007) It is reported that all cloves are exported to India. The SAFTA agreement allows a free entry of our products to India as against a 35% tariff from other exporting countries. India is the biggest buyer of our spices, but we cannot meet the demands of the Indian market and therefore they look to the markets of Indonesia and Madagascar to meet their demand. If we can increase our production we can enter the India market which means a better deal to our rural villager. Pepper is grown wild in our soil. It needs little or no attention. Unlike the ancient times where the produce was plucked from tree tops today the pepper wine could be grown in bushes making it easy for harvesting and minimising post harvest waste. The world trade in pepper is estimated to be MT around 200,000 to 250,000 mt and we can meet at least 8% of this. White pepper is a by- product which has a demand in tourist trade. The Department of Export Agriculture should embark on a field programme to grow spices in villages. Coffee which grows easily contributes to the rural economy. But the production that was 4371.1 MT in 1994 has come down to 105.7 MT in 2006. This may be because the average villager did not get a good price per kilo for his produce some time back. There is a record increase in the production of nutmeg from 646.3 MT in 1994 to 1515.0 MT in 2006 according to statics maintained by the Export Agriculture Department. Not only these export crops and other agriculture produce such as rubber tea and coconut fetch the highest recorded price in the reason times. Sri Lanka had been a country that attracted the Portuguese and Dutch for spice trading even before these European powers. History shows that our Sinhala Kings traded in spice with Arabian countries. Buwaneka Buhu 1 (1272-1284) who ruled from Dambadeniya had his Trade Representative in Egypt. His son Buwanekabahu 11 (1293-1302) who ruled from Kurunegala sent his Trade Team to negotiate spice trading with the King of Egypt and history records that this delegation met the King in Cairo in 1283. Such was our spice trade from the ancient days. It is up to the authorities in power to revive the cultivation of spices as in ancient time to give a boost to the slumber rural economy. (The writer is former Member of Parliament Kandy District)
The talk in the town and village today is the sky racketing cost of living and how the ordinary citizen can face this situation. No one talks about the prices of minor export crops that are freely available and easily grown in the villages. These crops played a vital role in our agrarian economy long before the introduction of plantations such as coffee tea cocoa etc. by the Britishers. The changes brought about by the introduction of a plantation economy had adverse effects to our religion-cultural and social value systems. The Waste Land Tax No. 19 of 1840, the Land Tax Act No. 5 of 1866 and the Grain Tax which was abolished by Governor Arther Havelock in 1892 were some of the Acts that changed the village agrarian economy. The prices of all minor export crops such as pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves coffee etc; that are grown easily and less labour intensive also fetch high prices to boost the income of the average village farmer. Not only these export crops but also other agricultural produce such as tea, rubber and coconuts fetch the highest recorded price in the recent times. It should be remembered that over sixty percent of our population are rural and live in the villages. Eighty percent of them are poor and thirty percent live in abject poverty. Per capita income in the Western Province and Colombo District is higher than in any other Province or District in the Island. This may be due to the availability of infrastructure specially a good road network. If one can reminiscence the Districts that these crops grow it can be seen that except for the North and East in most other Districts spices are grown. The land has been blocked out and used for construction purposes. In the Districts of Matale, Kandy, Kegalla etc; where rubber cocoa and pepper are grown in abundance the production of these crops have become minimal thus affecting the income levels of the rural masses. Apart from reduction of the land area available for minor export crops, the available extent is infertile due to soil erosion, fragmentation, haphazard contour drains and other bad land management practices which has led to the degrading of the soil. There were Extension Workers from various Departments who liaise with the villager closely and advised him on laying contour drains, soil erosion, good practices to enhance their coops production etc; but unfortunately such extension services are not seen today. This should receive the special attention of the ‘Gama Neguma’ programme under Mahinda Chintanaya. What a government could do to improve the village economy is to create avenues to earn more income through agrarian and agricultural practices and get better prices for their village agriculture and export products. Taking industries to the villages and industrialisation of villages will have a deep impact on their cultural ethos and rid the value systems that bond the villager together. As Mahatma Gandhi said if the village perishes the whole county will perish as more than sixty percent of our country is rural. The net results of these lapses is that our contribution to the global market needs is less than 4%. It is observed that our cinnamon production which was 12336 MT in 2004 reduced to 11391 in 2006. Similarly 2478 MT of cloves exported in 2004, dropped to 2376 MT. Pepper recorded an increase of 7856 MT in 2006 from the level of 4851 MT in 2004 (Daily News 27.11.2007) It is reported that all cloves are exported to India. The SAFTA agreement allows a free entry of our products to India as against a 35% tariff from other exporting countries. India is the biggest buyer of our spices, but we cannot meet the demands of the Indian market and therefore they look to the markets of Indonesia and Madagascar to meet their demand. If we can increase our production we can enter the India market which means a better deal to our rural villager. Pepper is grown wild in our soil. It needs little or no attention. Unlike the ancient times where the produce was plucked from tree tops today the pepper wine could be grown in bushes making it easy for harvesting and minimising post harvest waste. The world trade in pepper is estimated to be MT around 200,000 to 250,000 mt and we can meet at least 8% of this. White pepper is a by- product which has a demand in tourist trade. The Department of Export Agriculture should embark on a field programme to grow spices in villages. Coffee which grows easily contributes to the rural economy. But the production that was 4371.1 MT in 1994 has come down to 105.7 MT in 2006. This may be because the average villager did not get a good price per kilo for his produce some time back. There is a record increase in the production of nutmeg from 646.3 MT in 1994 to 1515.0 MT in 2006 according to statics maintained by the Export Agriculture Department. Not only these export crops and other agriculture produce such as rubber tea and coconut fetch the highest recorded price in the reason times. Sri Lanka had been a country that attracted the Portuguese and Dutch for spice trading even before these European powers. History shows that our Sinhala Kings traded in spice with Arabian countries. Buwaneka Buhu 1 (1272-1284) who ruled from Dambadeniya had his Trade Representative in Egypt. His son Buwanekabahu 11 (1293-1302) who ruled from Kurunegala sent his Trade Team to negotiate spice trading with the King of Egypt and history records that this delegation met the King in Cairo in 1283. Such was our spice trade from the ancient days. It is up to the authorities in power to revive the cultivation of spices as in ancient time to give a boost to the slumber rural economy. (The writer is former Member of Parliament Kandy District)
Friday, December 28, 2007
Microfinance a victim of own success? - report
Daily Mirror: 28/12/2007"
Washington D.C— Microloans to the poor around the world soared to 133 million last year, up from 13 million just nine years ago, according to a report released by the Microcredit Summit Campaign, an initiative of RESULTS Educational Fund.
The dramatic progress was also evident in the Campaign’s focus on loans to the very poor, those living on less than a US$1 a day, which reached 93 million families in 2006, just shy of the Campaign’s goal of reaching 100 million poorest. “We know that by today the 100 million poorest will have been reached,” Microcredit Summit Campaign Director Sam Daley-Harris said, “but we won’t be able to report those results until the 2007 data is collected, verified, and released at the end of 2008.”
The State of the Campaign Report 2007 singles out special praise for Jamii Bora: a microfinance organization in Kenya that started eight years ago with loans to 50 beggars and now reaches 170,000 savers and 60,000 borrowers. The groundbreaking institution started offering health insurance seven years ago when it realized that of those clients who struggled to repay their loans, 93 percent had the same challenge—a close family member in the hospital. “You can’t expect that anyone will let their child die because they have to pay their loan to Jamii Bora,” said the group’s founder Ingrid Munro, “so this was something that we had to solve.” As a result, Jamii Bora covers all in-hospital costs for one adult and four children by linking with mission hospitals. The total cost for the family of five is just 30 cents per week or US$12 per year. This year’s report, however, is the first to assess how the microfinance movement is in danger of becoming a victim of its own success. A tidal wave of commercial capital in recent years is now challenging the very principles on which the microfinance movement was built. The report discusses how Mexico-based microfinance institution Compartamos launched an IPO in April 2007, which netted some US$450 million for its initial investors and raised the company’s valuation to US$1.4 billion.
This was possible partially because of the microfinance institution’s high profits spurred by interest rates and other charges that top 100 percent a year.“I am shocked by the news,” said Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus reacting to the IPO. “Microcredit should be about helping the poor to get out of poverty by protecting them from the moneylenders, not creating new ones. A true microcredit organization must keep its interest rate as close to the cost-of-funds as possible. There is no justification for interest rates in the range of 100 percent. My own experience has convinced me that microcredit interest rates can be comfortably under the cost of funds plus ten percent, or plus fifteen percent at the most.’
Daley-Harris, the report’s author, challenges World Bank President Robert Zoellick to stop the Bank’s foot-dragging and invest more money into microcredit programs for the very poor. On October 3, 2007, 29 members of the U.S. House and Senate met with President Zoellick for over an hour to persuade him to get half of World Bank microfinance funds to families living on less than US$1 a day. Zoellick’s main promise to the members of Congress was to meet regularly for more discussion.
“While the World Bank talks,” Daley said, “26,500 children die each day from largely preventable malnutrition and disease and some 77 million children of primary- school age are not in school. Zoellick should agree to the requests from Congress, requests that his two predecessors received from more than 1,200 parliamentarians, to increase World Bank spending for microfinance; ensure that half of Bank spending on microfinance reaches the very poor, those living below US$1 a day; require the use of cost-effective poverty measurement tools to ensure compliance; and report annually on results.”
“The World Bank has a choice,” Daley-Harris says, summarizing the report. “Will it remain stuck in its stingy, Scrooge-like refusal to extend microcredit to the poorest families in the world or will it be transformed and give the gift of microfinance to the very poor thereby helping hundreds of millions of families find a dignified route out of poverty?”
Washington D.C— Microloans to the poor around the world soared to 133 million last year, up from 13 million just nine years ago, according to a report released by the Microcredit Summit Campaign, an initiative of RESULTS Educational Fund.
The dramatic progress was also evident in the Campaign’s focus on loans to the very poor, those living on less than a US$1 a day, which reached 93 million families in 2006, just shy of the Campaign’s goal of reaching 100 million poorest. “We know that by today the 100 million poorest will have been reached,” Microcredit Summit Campaign Director Sam Daley-Harris said, “but we won’t be able to report those results until the 2007 data is collected, verified, and released at the end of 2008.”
The State of the Campaign Report 2007 singles out special praise for Jamii Bora: a microfinance organization in Kenya that started eight years ago with loans to 50 beggars and now reaches 170,000 savers and 60,000 borrowers. The groundbreaking institution started offering health insurance seven years ago when it realized that of those clients who struggled to repay their loans, 93 percent had the same challenge—a close family member in the hospital. “You can’t expect that anyone will let their child die because they have to pay their loan to Jamii Bora,” said the group’s founder Ingrid Munro, “so this was something that we had to solve.” As a result, Jamii Bora covers all in-hospital costs for one adult and four children by linking with mission hospitals. The total cost for the family of five is just 30 cents per week or US$12 per year. This year’s report, however, is the first to assess how the microfinance movement is in danger of becoming a victim of its own success. A tidal wave of commercial capital in recent years is now challenging the very principles on which the microfinance movement was built. The report discusses how Mexico-based microfinance institution Compartamos launched an IPO in April 2007, which netted some US$450 million for its initial investors and raised the company’s valuation to US$1.4 billion.
This was possible partially because of the microfinance institution’s high profits spurred by interest rates and other charges that top 100 percent a year.“I am shocked by the news,” said Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus reacting to the IPO. “Microcredit should be about helping the poor to get out of poverty by protecting them from the moneylenders, not creating new ones. A true microcredit organization must keep its interest rate as close to the cost-of-funds as possible. There is no justification for interest rates in the range of 100 percent. My own experience has convinced me that microcredit interest rates can be comfortably under the cost of funds plus ten percent, or plus fifteen percent at the most.’
Daley-Harris, the report’s author, challenges World Bank President Robert Zoellick to stop the Bank’s foot-dragging and invest more money into microcredit programs for the very poor. On October 3, 2007, 29 members of the U.S. House and Senate met with President Zoellick for over an hour to persuade him to get half of World Bank microfinance funds to families living on less than US$1 a day. Zoellick’s main promise to the members of Congress was to meet regularly for more discussion.
“While the World Bank talks,” Daley said, “26,500 children die each day from largely preventable malnutrition and disease and some 77 million children of primary- school age are not in school. Zoellick should agree to the requests from Congress, requests that his two predecessors received from more than 1,200 parliamentarians, to increase World Bank spending for microfinance; ensure that half of Bank spending on microfinance reaches the very poor, those living below US$1 a day; require the use of cost-effective poverty measurement tools to ensure compliance; and report annually on results.”
“The World Bank has a choice,” Daley-Harris says, summarizing the report. “Will it remain stuck in its stingy, Scrooge-like refusal to extend microcredit to the poorest families in the world or will it be transformed and give the gift of microfinance to the very poor thereby helping hundreds of millions of families find a dignified route out of poverty?”
Thursday, December 27, 2007
3 Years On, Nations Remember Tsunami
The Academic: 26/12/2007"
Associated Press, Wed December 26, 2007 06:13 EST . CALANG, Indonesia - Survivors prayed at mosques and mass graves Wednesday to mark the third anniversary of the devastating Asian tsunami, while hundreds fled beaches as part of a drill to test an alert network established since the disaster.
The waves on Dec. 26, 2004, spawned by the mightiest earthquake in 40 years, killed around 230,000 people in 12 Indian Ocean countries, just under half of them in the Indonesian province of Aceh on Sumatra island.
Coastal communities in Sri Lanka and India lost some 45,000 people between them. The waves also crashed into tourist resorts in southern Thailand, killing more than 5,000, half of them foreign vacationers.
The disaster overwhelmed authorities in Aceh, where bodies littered devastated neighbourhoods for weeks. Most victims were never formally identified and tens of thousands were buried in mass graves.
Nur Aini lost her husband and one of her two children to the waves.
"We are praying for them today even though I don't know where they are buried," she said. "My remaining child still calls out for his father."
The disaster, one of the deadliest of the modern age, promoted a global outpouring of sympathy, with governments, individuals and corporations pledging more than $13 billion in aid.
In Aceh, more than 100,000 houses, scores of schools and hospitals and miles of roads have been rebuilt. Whilst there have been complaints of corruption and waste, most people involved in the reconstruction process say it has gone well.
"I hope we can turn a new page now and leave sadness, cries and tears behind us," Aceh Gov. Irwandi Yusuf told hundreds gathered at a prayer ceremony in the hard-hit town of Calang. "I hope one day we can pay our debt to the world by becoming a donor to other countries hit by disasters."
Thailand held ceremonies throughout the day along its white-sand southern beaches.
Survivors and families of victims were invited to Phuket's Patong beach, a popular strip of hotels and restaurants, to lay flowers in the sand. Chanting Buddhist monks were to light incense and lead an ecumenical prayer service.
The tsunami drill in Indonesia took place on the western tip of Java island close to the capital, Jakarta. It was attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other top government officials.
Those taking part ran or walked around a mile inland after the siren sounded.
Foreign governments are helping Indonesia establish a countrywide network of buoys and high-tech communications equipment that would give coastal communities warning if there is a tsunami. The network is up and running in several regions of the country, but 20 more buoys are due to be launched in 2008.
Indonesia is frequently rocked by powerful earthquakes because of its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and tectonic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
The observances came amid widespread flooding in parts of Indonesia. Heavy rains triggered landslides that killed dozens of people on Java island, though far from the scene of the tsunami and Wednesday's drill.
Associated Press, Wed December 26, 2007 06:13 EST . CALANG, Indonesia - Survivors prayed at mosques and mass graves Wednesday to mark the third anniversary of the devastating Asian tsunami, while hundreds fled beaches as part of a drill to test an alert network established since the disaster.
The waves on Dec. 26, 2004, spawned by the mightiest earthquake in 40 years, killed around 230,000 people in 12 Indian Ocean countries, just under half of them in the Indonesian province of Aceh on Sumatra island.
Coastal communities in Sri Lanka and India lost some 45,000 people between them. The waves also crashed into tourist resorts in southern Thailand, killing more than 5,000, half of them foreign vacationers.
The disaster overwhelmed authorities in Aceh, where bodies littered devastated neighbourhoods for weeks. Most victims were never formally identified and tens of thousands were buried in mass graves.
Nur Aini lost her husband and one of her two children to the waves.
"We are praying for them today even though I don't know where they are buried," she said. "My remaining child still calls out for his father."
The disaster, one of the deadliest of the modern age, promoted a global outpouring of sympathy, with governments, individuals and corporations pledging more than $13 billion in aid.
In Aceh, more than 100,000 houses, scores of schools and hospitals and miles of roads have been rebuilt. Whilst there have been complaints of corruption and waste, most people involved in the reconstruction process say it has gone well.
"I hope we can turn a new page now and leave sadness, cries and tears behind us," Aceh Gov. Irwandi Yusuf told hundreds gathered at a prayer ceremony in the hard-hit town of Calang. "I hope one day we can pay our debt to the world by becoming a donor to other countries hit by disasters."
Thailand held ceremonies throughout the day along its white-sand southern beaches.
Survivors and families of victims were invited to Phuket's Patong beach, a popular strip of hotels and restaurants, to lay flowers in the sand. Chanting Buddhist monks were to light incense and lead an ecumenical prayer service.
The tsunami drill in Indonesia took place on the western tip of Java island close to the capital, Jakarta. It was attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other top government officials.
Those taking part ran or walked around a mile inland after the siren sounded.
Foreign governments are helping Indonesia establish a countrywide network of buoys and high-tech communications equipment that would give coastal communities warning if there is a tsunami. The network is up and running in several regions of the country, but 20 more buoys are due to be launched in 2008.
Indonesia is frequently rocked by powerful earthquakes because of its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and tectonic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
The observances came amid widespread flooding in parts of Indonesia. Heavy rains triggered landslides that killed dozens of people on Java island, though far from the scene of the tsunami and Wednesday's drill.
Feature - South Sri Lanka moves on from tsunami, war curses north
ReliefWeb: 26/12/2007" By Simon Gardner
PERALIYA, Sri Lanka, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan housewife D.W. Leelawathi can still picture the 2004 tsunami as if it were yesterday, but three years on she and thousands like her are finally back in homes they can call their own and are moving on.
Standing among piles of sand, earth and rock in her front garden, the smell of fresh-cut wood still permeating the air as her new home nears completion, Leelawathi, 69, gestures to a nearby rail track, torn up as the tsunami swept away a passing train killing 1,270 people on board.
"The tsunami is not only in my dreams. Even in the daytime I feel as if it happened just yesterday, with so many bodies kept here," she said, pointing at a plot of grass next to her home. Two of her children were among the dead.
"But now our house is rebuilt," she said, standing in front of a 3-storey, 8-bedroom home her policeman son is building for her, partly funded by a 250,000-rupee ($2,300) grant.
The United Nations says nearly 100,000 families are now back in permanent shelter on the third anniversary of the worst natural disaster in memory, which left 35,000 people dead or missing in Sri Lanka and killed around 230,000 in total around the Indian Ocean rim.
But ever-deepening civil war between the Sri Lankan state and Tamil Tigers has hamstrung rebuilding work in the east and halted it in parts of the rebel-held north, where materials such as cement and steel rods have dried up because of a government ban.
Thousands of families in the war-ravaged north and east are still living in basic, temporary shelters with palm-frond roofs and corrugated metal sheet sides, their numbers swollen by others displaced by the war.
RECOVERY SKEWED
"Three years after the tsunami nearly 100,000 families, or around 80 percent of those affected by the disaster, are back living in totally new or repaired houses," said David Evans, chief technical adviser for UN Habitat in Sri Lanka.
"But the conflict has badly hampered or brought reconstruction work to a standstill in some parts of the north and east and another 21,000 houses are still required," he added. "So a big task still lies ahead in 2008 and progress in parts of the north will be impossible until the fighting stops."
In southern Sri Lanka, away from near-daily artillery duels and land and sea battles, it's a different story.
Ruined buildings still pepper the southern coastal drag, with vines and creepers steadily enveloping crumbling walls and piles of debris lying just where the tsunami left them: a random tiled kitchen unit here, a stranded doorway there.
"This land is for sale -- ideal for a holiday resort," reads one optimistic banner dangling from the remnants of one tsunami-flattened home in the southern village of Peraliya, where Leelawathi lives.
But unhindered by a war that is focused in the north, legions of donors were able to put up housing schemes and fund many self-build projects via grants, though still slowed by red tape and difficulties securing land to build on.
In the southern port town of Galle, the legendary cricket stadium finally came back to life this month, hosting a test match between England and Sri Lanka. Tourists are returning too.
Some residents are ignoring a government coastal exclusion zone, rebuilding right next to the beach in defiance of the risk of a repeat disaster.
Others are struggling, and say they have slipped through the cracks. They say grants available are not big enough.
"You can't build a house for 250,000 rupees," said 34-year--old Mohammad Naizer, who is slowly rebuilding his family home in Galle. Reinforcing metal rods poke out of the wonky concrete structure, which still has no facade, its interior visible to the outside world.
Rain drips through cracks between the new structure and a salvaged wing of his old house comprising a kitchen and a bedroom.
His two children, aged three and one, scamper around near-naked in the damp as his wife sits on a plastic chair in an empty open-air space that will one day be their sitting room. Naizer was once a gem polisher, but his machines were ruined in the tsunami and he now relies on odd jobs.
"No one helped me. It is very difficult to live in such conditions, five of us in one room," he said. "Because it is all open, sometimes animals come in, dogs ... snakes."
"It would be good if the government could provide a better house than this." (US$1 = 108.55 rupees)
(Editing by Roger Crabb and Sanjeev Miglani)
PERALIYA, Sri Lanka, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan housewife D.W. Leelawathi can still picture the 2004 tsunami as if it were yesterday, but three years on she and thousands like her are finally back in homes they can call their own and are moving on.
Standing among piles of sand, earth and rock in her front garden, the smell of fresh-cut wood still permeating the air as her new home nears completion, Leelawathi, 69, gestures to a nearby rail track, torn up as the tsunami swept away a passing train killing 1,270 people on board.
"The tsunami is not only in my dreams. Even in the daytime I feel as if it happened just yesterday, with so many bodies kept here," she said, pointing at a plot of grass next to her home. Two of her children were among the dead.
"But now our house is rebuilt," she said, standing in front of a 3-storey, 8-bedroom home her policeman son is building for her, partly funded by a 250,000-rupee ($2,300) grant.
The United Nations says nearly 100,000 families are now back in permanent shelter on the third anniversary of the worst natural disaster in memory, which left 35,000 people dead or missing in Sri Lanka and killed around 230,000 in total around the Indian Ocean rim.
But ever-deepening civil war between the Sri Lankan state and Tamil Tigers has hamstrung rebuilding work in the east and halted it in parts of the rebel-held north, where materials such as cement and steel rods have dried up because of a government ban.
Thousands of families in the war-ravaged north and east are still living in basic, temporary shelters with palm-frond roofs and corrugated metal sheet sides, their numbers swollen by others displaced by the war.
RECOVERY SKEWED
"Three years after the tsunami nearly 100,000 families, or around 80 percent of those affected by the disaster, are back living in totally new or repaired houses," said David Evans, chief technical adviser for UN Habitat in Sri Lanka.
"But the conflict has badly hampered or brought reconstruction work to a standstill in some parts of the north and east and another 21,000 houses are still required," he added. "So a big task still lies ahead in 2008 and progress in parts of the north will be impossible until the fighting stops."
In southern Sri Lanka, away from near-daily artillery duels and land and sea battles, it's a different story.
Ruined buildings still pepper the southern coastal drag, with vines and creepers steadily enveloping crumbling walls and piles of debris lying just where the tsunami left them: a random tiled kitchen unit here, a stranded doorway there.
"This land is for sale -- ideal for a holiday resort," reads one optimistic banner dangling from the remnants of one tsunami-flattened home in the southern village of Peraliya, where Leelawathi lives.
But unhindered by a war that is focused in the north, legions of donors were able to put up housing schemes and fund many self-build projects via grants, though still slowed by red tape and difficulties securing land to build on.
In the southern port town of Galle, the legendary cricket stadium finally came back to life this month, hosting a test match between England and Sri Lanka. Tourists are returning too.
Some residents are ignoring a government coastal exclusion zone, rebuilding right next to the beach in defiance of the risk of a repeat disaster.
Others are struggling, and say they have slipped through the cracks. They say grants available are not big enough.
"You can't build a house for 250,000 rupees," said 34-year--old Mohammad Naizer, who is slowly rebuilding his family home in Galle. Reinforcing metal rods poke out of the wonky concrete structure, which still has no facade, its interior visible to the outside world.
Rain drips through cracks between the new structure and a salvaged wing of his old house comprising a kitchen and a bedroom.
His two children, aged three and one, scamper around near-naked in the damp as his wife sits on a plastic chair in an empty open-air space that will one day be their sitting room. Naizer was once a gem polisher, but his machines were ruined in the tsunami and he now relies on odd jobs.
"No one helped me. It is very difficult to live in such conditions, five of us in one room," he said. "Because it is all open, sometimes animals come in, dogs ... snakes."
"It would be good if the government could provide a better house than this." (US$1 = 108.55 rupees)
(Editing by Roger Crabb and Sanjeev Miglani)
Sri Lanka observes Tsunami anniversary
IRNA: 26/12/2007"
Third Tsunami anniversary is being observed as National Safety Day in Sri Lanka Wednesday.
The main commemorative function is being held at Ratnapura in southern Sri Lanka.
A special prayer meeting is also being held at Peraliya, south of Colombo where more than 1000 passengers were killed as their train was washed away by the giant waves three years ago, All India Radio reported.
The whole of the island nation went into silent prayers for three minutes in the morning as mark of respect to those who perished in tsunami.
The nature's fury had killed more about 40,000 people besides displacing 2.5 million in Sri Lanka, the worst affected country after Indonesia.
India was the first country to have rushed to help Sri Lanka when Tsunami hit the island.
Besides pledging dlrs 23 million as Tsunami relief, New Delhi had dispatched ship loads of food and relief materials to the Tsunami hit regions.
More than 1000 military and medical personnel from India worked day in and day out to help Sri Lanka recover from the tsunami shock.
In Indonesia Mass prayers as well as a major emergency Tsunami drill are being held in coastal Calang town in Aceh, province.
Archipelagic Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake- triggered tsunami, with some 168,000 lives claimed by the catastrophic walls of water that lashed Aceh province at the northern tip of Sumatra island.
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea earthquake that occurred on December 26, 2004, with an epicenter off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The earthquake triggered a series of devastating Tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing more than 225,000 people in eleven countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (100 feet).
This was the ninth-deadliest natural disaster in modern history.
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and Myanmar were hardest hit.
With a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3, it is the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph.
This earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 cm (0.5 inches) and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska.
A Tsunami is a series of waves created when a body of water, such as an ocean, is rapidly displaced.
Earthquakes, mass movements above or below water, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions, landslides,underwater earthquakes, large meteoroid or asteroid impacts and testing with nuclear weapons at sea all have the potential to generate a tsunami.
The effects of a tsunami can range from unnoticeable to devastating.
Third Tsunami anniversary is being observed as National Safety Day in Sri Lanka Wednesday.
The main commemorative function is being held at Ratnapura in southern Sri Lanka.
A special prayer meeting is also being held at Peraliya, south of Colombo where more than 1000 passengers were killed as their train was washed away by the giant waves three years ago, All India Radio reported.
The whole of the island nation went into silent prayers for three minutes in the morning as mark of respect to those who perished in tsunami.
The nature's fury had killed more about 40,000 people besides displacing 2.5 million in Sri Lanka, the worst affected country after Indonesia.
India was the first country to have rushed to help Sri Lanka when Tsunami hit the island.
Besides pledging dlrs 23 million as Tsunami relief, New Delhi had dispatched ship loads of food and relief materials to the Tsunami hit regions.
More than 1000 military and medical personnel from India worked day in and day out to help Sri Lanka recover from the tsunami shock.
In Indonesia Mass prayers as well as a major emergency Tsunami drill are being held in coastal Calang town in Aceh, province.
Archipelagic Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake- triggered tsunami, with some 168,000 lives claimed by the catastrophic walls of water that lashed Aceh province at the northern tip of Sumatra island.
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea earthquake that occurred on December 26, 2004, with an epicenter off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The earthquake triggered a series of devastating Tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing more than 225,000 people in eleven countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (100 feet).
This was the ninth-deadliest natural disaster in modern history.
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and Myanmar were hardest hit.
With a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3, it is the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph.
This earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 cm (0.5 inches) and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska.
A Tsunami is a series of waves created when a body of water, such as an ocean, is rapidly displaced.
Earthquakes, mass movements above or below water, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions, landslides,underwater earthquakes, large meteoroid or asteroid impacts and testing with nuclear weapons at sea all have the potential to generate a tsunami.
The effects of a tsunami can range from unnoticeable to devastating.
Coral mining made tsunami more destructive in Sri Lanka
ET: 26/12/2007"
The destruction wrought by the tsunami of Dec 25, 2004 on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka would have been much less if successive governments had heeded Sir Arthur Clarke's persistent call to stop the mining of corals.
The British-born science writer and diving enthusiast, who had been living in Sri Lanka since 1956, was campaigning for coral reef protection and other matters relating to coastal preservation for long. But few in the island listened.
'He did create an awareness at the international level, but the message never percolated to the local level here in Sri Lanka,' said Vinod Moonesinghe, an environmental activist who had worked with the NGO 'Friends of the Earth.'
'The coral reefs from Akurela to Hikkaduwa were being mined for years to make lime which is used in the construction of buildings. The area had, in fact, become very famous for its lime. But the depletion of the corals had resulted in the killer waves lashing the shore with an unprecedented ferocity,' Moonesinghe told IANS on the third anniversary of the deadly tsunami..
In a place called Peraliya, 96 km south of Colombo, 1,500 people were killed in a matter of minutes, when the railway train in which they were traveling was struck by giant waves twice in quick succession. Peraliya town too lost heavily, with 2,500 dead and 450 families rendered homeless.
The battered, dented and rusted train quickly became a major tourist attraction, being the last vestige of the tsunami in the area, and the grimmest reminder of it.
'The corals in the 'coral garden' at Hikkaduwa and Akurela have survived the fury as they are better able to stand the waves than the species on land. And they continue to be a tourist attraction,' Moonesinghe said.
'The authorities must stop not only the mining of corals, as a matter of great urgency, but control the discharge of effluents from the beach hotels, that dot the coast,' he said.
The palm fringed coastline from Colombo to Galle has been a major tourist attraction, especially for Westerners looking for sun and sand. The place bristles with small and large lodges and hotels, several of them right on the shoreline.
Tsunami had induced some awareness of coastal management. The government had introduced a rule that there should be no construction within hundred metres of the shoreline. But the conservation measures are being implemented in a very 'desultory' manner, says Moonesinghe..
Over the years, the sea has eroded the southwestern coast greatly, and beaches are becoming scarce all along the Colombo-Galle road. In many places, the shoreline is barely a few yards away from the main road and rail line. And it is feared that due to global warming, erosion will only increase in the years to come, hitting tourism, which is already declining due to the war and the terrorist bombings.
The destruction wrought by the tsunami of Dec 25, 2004 on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka would have been much less if successive governments had heeded Sir Arthur Clarke's persistent call to stop the mining of corals.
The British-born science writer and diving enthusiast, who had been living in Sri Lanka since 1956, was campaigning for coral reef protection and other matters relating to coastal preservation for long. But few in the island listened.
'He did create an awareness at the international level, but the message never percolated to the local level here in Sri Lanka,' said Vinod Moonesinghe, an environmental activist who had worked with the NGO 'Friends of the Earth.'
'The coral reefs from Akurela to Hikkaduwa were being mined for years to make lime which is used in the construction of buildings. The area had, in fact, become very famous for its lime. But the depletion of the corals had resulted in the killer waves lashing the shore with an unprecedented ferocity,' Moonesinghe told IANS on the third anniversary of the deadly tsunami..
In a place called Peraliya, 96 km south of Colombo, 1,500 people were killed in a matter of minutes, when the railway train in which they were traveling was struck by giant waves twice in quick succession. Peraliya town too lost heavily, with 2,500 dead and 450 families rendered homeless.
The battered, dented and rusted train quickly became a major tourist attraction, being the last vestige of the tsunami in the area, and the grimmest reminder of it.
'The corals in the 'coral garden' at Hikkaduwa and Akurela have survived the fury as they are better able to stand the waves than the species on land. And they continue to be a tourist attraction,' Moonesinghe said.
'The authorities must stop not only the mining of corals, as a matter of great urgency, but control the discharge of effluents from the beach hotels, that dot the coast,' he said.
The palm fringed coastline from Colombo to Galle has been a major tourist attraction, especially for Westerners looking for sun and sand. The place bristles with small and large lodges and hotels, several of them right on the shoreline.
Tsunami had induced some awareness of coastal management. The government had introduced a rule that there should be no construction within hundred metres of the shoreline. But the conservation measures are being implemented in a very 'desultory' manner, says Moonesinghe..
Over the years, the sea has eroded the southwestern coast greatly, and beaches are becoming scarce all along the Colombo-Galle road. In many places, the shoreline is barely a few yards away from the main road and rail line. And it is feared that due to global warming, erosion will only increase in the years to come, hitting tourism, which is already declining due to the war and the terrorist bombings.
Two Nano technology institutions to be launched with private sector support
The Island: 27/12/2007"
The Ministry of Science and Technology has planned to launch two nano technology institutions next year as joint ventures with the private sector, the ministry said.
Under the project, two institutions, named NANCO and the Sri Lanka Institute of Nano Technology (SLINTEC) will be set up.
NANCO will be the holding company that will own the nano park proposed to be established in Homagama.
State of the art laboratories will come up in the park to facilitate private sector companies and other research institutions, the Ministry said yesterday.
SLINTEC, the research institute, will be a joint venture with the private sector. Private sector will invest 50% to set it up and this investment will decide on the salaries and other emoluments to the professionals who will join the institution.
It will conduct research programs directly focused on upgrading the industrial products, initially our main industrial exports. Any innovation of SLINTEC will be used by the private sector partners of the institute. The investment of the project is Rs. five billion.
"The major advantage Sri Lanka tend to gain in this new technology is the human resources we have," the Secretary to the Ministry A.N.R. Amarathunga was quoted as saying.
Some of the world's top nano scientists are Sri Lankans who will extend their support to the project. Professors Ravi Silva and Gihan Amarathunge will join from the beginning. Prof. Silva is due here by next month (January).
Prof. Silva is presently attached to the University of Surrey and is one members of the five member consultative committee of the UK government on nano technology. Prof. Amarathunge is in the University of Cambridge.
"Sri Lankan nano research will initially focus on industries such as apparel, rubber, ceramic, chemical products such as paints, activated carbon, mineral and herbal products which are the main industries in Sri Lanka.
Nanotechnology research will enable these industries to face the risk and compete globally. For instance our apparel industry is catering for high end niche markets and we are competing in quality and not in volume. Nano technology can be used to produce high quality apparel products. In rubber industry too we can add more value to our rubber products, the Ministry said.
Nano technology is a vast area and can be applied in every industry, Amaratunga said. The private companies that will join the project are MAS Holdings, Brandix, Jinasena, Dialog and Sri Lanka Telecom. Some countries have agreed to technically support the project.
Some universities and research institutes have already started training scientists in nano science. SLINTEC will be initially located at Biyagama and later shifted to the nano park in Homagama. once the construction work is completed, which will take around two years," he said.
"This is the first time the corporate private sector will collaborate with the government in research and development.
Nanotechnology is a new breakthrough in science and if we grab the opportunities at the very beginning the country will benefit immensely. We missed the industrial revolution, electronic revolution, bio revolution and the IT revolution.
Many developing countries successfully utilised these technologies in their economic development.
Our objective is to be a leader or at least an equal partner in nano research, Amaratunga said.
The Ministry of Science and Technology has planned to launch two nano technology institutions next year as joint ventures with the private sector, the ministry said.
Under the project, two institutions, named NANCO and the Sri Lanka Institute of Nano Technology (SLINTEC) will be set up.
NANCO will be the holding company that will own the nano park proposed to be established in Homagama.
State of the art laboratories will come up in the park to facilitate private sector companies and other research institutions, the Ministry said yesterday.
SLINTEC, the research institute, will be a joint venture with the private sector. Private sector will invest 50% to set it up and this investment will decide on the salaries and other emoluments to the professionals who will join the institution.
It will conduct research programs directly focused on upgrading the industrial products, initially our main industrial exports. Any innovation of SLINTEC will be used by the private sector partners of the institute. The investment of the project is Rs. five billion.
"The major advantage Sri Lanka tend to gain in this new technology is the human resources we have," the Secretary to the Ministry A.N.R. Amarathunga was quoted as saying.
Some of the world's top nano scientists are Sri Lankans who will extend their support to the project. Professors Ravi Silva and Gihan Amarathunge will join from the beginning. Prof. Silva is due here by next month (January).
Prof. Silva is presently attached to the University of Surrey and is one members of the five member consultative committee of the UK government on nano technology. Prof. Amarathunge is in the University of Cambridge.
"Sri Lankan nano research will initially focus on industries such as apparel, rubber, ceramic, chemical products such as paints, activated carbon, mineral and herbal products which are the main industries in Sri Lanka.
Nanotechnology research will enable these industries to face the risk and compete globally. For instance our apparel industry is catering for high end niche markets and we are competing in quality and not in volume. Nano technology can be used to produce high quality apparel products. In rubber industry too we can add more value to our rubber products, the Ministry said.
Nano technology is a vast area and can be applied in every industry, Amaratunga said. The private companies that will join the project are MAS Holdings, Brandix, Jinasena, Dialog and Sri Lanka Telecom. Some countries have agreed to technically support the project.
Some universities and research institutes have already started training scientists in nano science. SLINTEC will be initially located at Biyagama and later shifted to the nano park in Homagama. once the construction work is completed, which will take around two years," he said.
"This is the first time the corporate private sector will collaborate with the government in research and development.
Nanotechnology is a new breakthrough in science and if we grab the opportunities at the very beginning the country will benefit immensely. We missed the industrial revolution, electronic revolution, bio revolution and the IT revolution.
Many developing countries successfully utilised these technologies in their economic development.
Our objective is to be a leader or at least an equal partner in nano research, Amaratunga said.
The Infrastructure for Development in an Agrarian Economy: The Sri Lankan Model that helps both producer and consumer
The Island: 27/12/2007" by Dr Garvin Karunaratne
The Cost of Living in Sri Lanka is soaring and the government is trying its level best to control the situation. The top priority given to this task is evident from the high powered committees appointed under the leadership of the President and the Prime Minister.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Sri Lanka established the infrastructure that could help farmers and small industrial entrepreneurs move from subsistence to commercial production. Those facilities comprised the Department for Development of Agricultural Marketing, the Paddy Marketing Board, the Cooperative Wholesale Establishment and the Small Industries Department. True, they ran at a loss but they made possible the achievement of self-sufficiency, reducing imports to a bare minimum, generating employment, providing consumer goods at reasonable prices to urban populations and also saving hard earned foreign exchange.
The most prominent IMF dictate in its Structural Adjustment Programme was that all the loss incurring public ventures should be abolished or privatized. Governments were stupid enough to do as the IMF said. No one argued with the IMF to point out that our development infrastructure helped both the consumer and the producer, helped the achievement of self sufficiency, avoided imports, etc. In the case of India and Bangladesh the Governments argued with the IMF and did not dismantle their developmental infrastructure. India and Bangladesh have stood to gain from their policy.
It is no wonder that in Sri Lanka the cost of living is soaring today and all attempts so far have failed to control it. Producers stopped producing for the market as they could not find fair prices for their produce. From 1996 to 1998, I worked on my small farm at Kadawata but could not sell the bananas I produced. The prices offered by the shops and restaurants were so low that I stopped cultivation. This is what happened to all producers. They stopped producing we had to depend on imports. Now we import oranges from India, apples from Australia and the US and this list is endless. Instead of finding employment for our farmers and wealth for our people we create employment for fruit and vegetable growers in many foreign countries.
Is there any concerted effort to produce oranges in our orange belt at Bibile , Moneragala and Wellassa? I know of this orange belt, because I have been there and when I was in charge of the Triploi Market, I handled lorry loads of oranges daily. We are now trying to plant sugar cane there! Sri Lanka got caught in the import-and-sell dictate of the IMF. The World Bank and the IMF would willingly allow loans to be used for imports. As Prof. Joseph Stiglitz has said the IMF does not care about our national interest. Its interest is to bolster the economies of the developed countries that control the IMF.
The aim of this paper is to detail the developmental infrastructure that Sri Lanka once had. I speak from sheer experience as my first appointment was as an Assistant Commissioner in the Department for Development of Agricultural Marketing. I covered the Vegetable, Fruit and Egg Marketing Scheme for five years and the Guaranteed Paddy Purchasing Scheme for over a decade. Later, I covered the Small Industries schemes for a total of five years, of which one year was spent as Deputy Director of Small Industries, in charge of private sector small industries.
The Department for the Development of Agricultural Marketing was established during the Second World War, when there was a severe shortage of essential food in the conurbation.
The Centre of the Vegetable , Fruit and Egg Purchasing Scheme was at the Tripoli Market, at the Maradana Goodshed. The staff comprised two Assistant Commissioners (I was one of them in 1957) and a number of Marketing Officers. Our task was to have close surveillance over the availability of vegetables and fruits in the Colombo market, study the quantities available, identify the items in short supply, fix prices at which the vegetables were to be purchased at the purchasing units of the Department established in all producing areas. In case of certain items in short supply like cabbage, carrots, red pumpkin, pineapple, oranges, eggs, floor prices were fixed, at which the Department would buy everything offered by producers. The aim was to avoid imports and to keep the urban populations served with goods at cheap rates. In addition, the Department also sent mobile purchasing units to the major fairs in the island like Embilipitiya, Welimada, where producers brought their crop for sale. The goods purchased were packed and despatched overnight by rail and lorry to the Tripoli Market. At Tripoli Market the goods were accepted, graded and despatched immediately to the Shops in the towns and also supplied to the hospitals. The sale prices were fixed at a level below the current sale prices in the shops. The prices were determined in such a way that neither losses nor huge profits were made.
The picture of the Marketing Department would be incomplete without reference to the Assistant Commissioner’s Conference held on about the tenth day of every month. Every Vegetable and Fruit Purchasing Depot as well as every Fair Price Shop had to compile a Profit and Loss for the earlier month and the Assistant Commissioner was pulled up if he had either incurred a loss of over 10% or secured a profit of over 10%. We were criticised for fixing too high a price for purchasing at the Fairs causing a loss or in fixing too high a price for selling to consumers causing a profit. It was a balancing act. This was a Scheme of Commissioner Basset. His place was taken over by Mr B. L. W. Fernando, a Chartered Accountant of few words but firm and smart in action. We shuddered in trepidation as his eyes scanned the Profit and Loss Accounts we submitted. It took a bare second for him to spot errors. He would warn us sternly but it was all forgotten, when he hosted us to dinner at his home at the end of the Conference. We had to be on our toes every minute and he effectively controlled all activities.
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The Cost of Living in Sri Lanka is soaring and the government is trying its level best to control the situation. The top priority given to this task is evident from the high powered committees appointed under the leadership of the President and the Prime Minister.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Sri Lanka established the infrastructure that could help farmers and small industrial entrepreneurs move from subsistence to commercial production. Those facilities comprised the Department for Development of Agricultural Marketing, the Paddy Marketing Board, the Cooperative Wholesale Establishment and the Small Industries Department. True, they ran at a loss but they made possible the achievement of self-sufficiency, reducing imports to a bare minimum, generating employment, providing consumer goods at reasonable prices to urban populations and also saving hard earned foreign exchange.
The most prominent IMF dictate in its Structural Adjustment Programme was that all the loss incurring public ventures should be abolished or privatized. Governments were stupid enough to do as the IMF said. No one argued with the IMF to point out that our development infrastructure helped both the consumer and the producer, helped the achievement of self sufficiency, avoided imports, etc. In the case of India and Bangladesh the Governments argued with the IMF and did not dismantle their developmental infrastructure. India and Bangladesh have stood to gain from their policy.
It is no wonder that in Sri Lanka the cost of living is soaring today and all attempts so far have failed to control it. Producers stopped producing for the market as they could not find fair prices for their produce. From 1996 to 1998, I worked on my small farm at Kadawata but could not sell the bananas I produced. The prices offered by the shops and restaurants were so low that I stopped cultivation. This is what happened to all producers. They stopped producing we had to depend on imports. Now we import oranges from India, apples from Australia and the US and this list is endless. Instead of finding employment for our farmers and wealth for our people we create employment for fruit and vegetable growers in many foreign countries.
Is there any concerted effort to produce oranges in our orange belt at Bibile , Moneragala and Wellassa? I know of this orange belt, because I have been there and when I was in charge of the Triploi Market, I handled lorry loads of oranges daily. We are now trying to plant sugar cane there! Sri Lanka got caught in the import-and-sell dictate of the IMF. The World Bank and the IMF would willingly allow loans to be used for imports. As Prof. Joseph Stiglitz has said the IMF does not care about our national interest. Its interest is to bolster the economies of the developed countries that control the IMF.
The aim of this paper is to detail the developmental infrastructure that Sri Lanka once had. I speak from sheer experience as my first appointment was as an Assistant Commissioner in the Department for Development of Agricultural Marketing. I covered the Vegetable, Fruit and Egg Marketing Scheme for five years and the Guaranteed Paddy Purchasing Scheme for over a decade. Later, I covered the Small Industries schemes for a total of five years, of which one year was spent as Deputy Director of Small Industries, in charge of private sector small industries.
The Department for the Development of Agricultural Marketing was established during the Second World War, when there was a severe shortage of essential food in the conurbation.
The Centre of the Vegetable , Fruit and Egg Purchasing Scheme was at the Tripoli Market, at the Maradana Goodshed. The staff comprised two Assistant Commissioners (I was one of them in 1957) and a number of Marketing Officers. Our task was to have close surveillance over the availability of vegetables and fruits in the Colombo market, study the quantities available, identify the items in short supply, fix prices at which the vegetables were to be purchased at the purchasing units of the Department established in all producing areas. In case of certain items in short supply like cabbage, carrots, red pumpkin, pineapple, oranges, eggs, floor prices were fixed, at which the Department would buy everything offered by producers. The aim was to avoid imports and to keep the urban populations served with goods at cheap rates. In addition, the Department also sent mobile purchasing units to the major fairs in the island like Embilipitiya, Welimada, where producers brought their crop for sale. The goods purchased were packed and despatched overnight by rail and lorry to the Tripoli Market. At Tripoli Market the goods were accepted, graded and despatched immediately to the Shops in the towns and also supplied to the hospitals. The sale prices were fixed at a level below the current sale prices in the shops. The prices were determined in such a way that neither losses nor huge profits were made.
The picture of the Marketing Department would be incomplete without reference to the Assistant Commissioner’s Conference held on about the tenth day of every month. Every Vegetable and Fruit Purchasing Depot as well as every Fair Price Shop had to compile a Profit and Loss for the earlier month and the Assistant Commissioner was pulled up if he had either incurred a loss of over 10% or secured a profit of over 10%. We were criticised for fixing too high a price for purchasing at the Fairs causing a loss or in fixing too high a price for selling to consumers causing a profit. It was a balancing act. This was a Scheme of Commissioner Basset. His place was taken over by Mr B. L. W. Fernando, a Chartered Accountant of few words but firm and smart in action. We shuddered in trepidation as his eyes scanned the Profit and Loss Accounts we submitted. It took a bare second for him to spot errors. He would warn us sternly but it was all forgotten, when he hosted us to dinner at his home at the end of the Conference. We had to be on our toes every minute and he effectively controlled all activities.