Editoral-OTHER VOICES - Sri Lankan Press Food choices

CHOICE … is a hallmark [of] a healthy democracy. One may therefore say in a … democracy people are expected to have a fairly varied choice of food. However it is not always [as] simple as that. Take Sri Lanka for instance. When J.R. Jayewardene opened the floodgates of the open economy to give relief to people who were under the extreme protectionist measures adopted by the Sirimavo Bandaranaike government, rice-eating Sri Lankans were given an array of choices. The move went on to make bread one of the three main [staples] of many Sri Lankans. Wheat flour poured into [the] country. So [did] rice from India, Pakistan and many other countries for much cheaper prices. The local farmers obviously saw no point in cultivating rice and just gave it up.

Over the next three decades some 80 per cent of paddy land in Sri Lanka was abandoned. Almost every government that came to power during this period promised to look into farmer grievances. Ad hoc measures like import taxes were introduced … to curb the tide of imports. However … they lost interest and let market forces have their way. [Recently] the government went on to re-impose the … duty on wheat imports…. The imposition … saw Prima jacking up its flour prices … and the All Ceylon Bakery Owners Association increasing the price of bread…. A few years ago a similar move … yielded results triggering a drastic drop in bread consumption. Even otherwise the consumption of bread is on the decline here. With the price of most consumed varieties of rice starting from Rs60 and bread prices now standing at Rs45 and above, once again a significant drop in bread consumption is expected. Similar measures have been adopted by countries like China and many in the socialist bloc [which] triggered lifestyle changes in the best interest of the farmer and the health of the consumer. However all those countries had consistency in policy…. Sri Lanka unfortunately is yet to come up with a set of proposals like those. — (June 24)

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