Young graduate finds farming a lucrative career | Daily News

Young graduate finds farming a lucrative career

Sandun Abeywickreme tends his crops.
Sandun Abeywickreme tends his crops.

The interviews for recruiting unemployed graduates to the government service as development officers were held between April 16 and 30. According to the Sri Lanka Freedom Graduates’ Association (SLFGA), the government received around 55,000 applications for these vacancies. The applications were called in August 2017. This graduate scheme is implemented by the Economic Affairs and National Policies Ministry. The government implemented graduate schemes in 1999, 2000 and 2012 as well.

In the meantime, the Joint Federation of Unemployed Graduates staged a protest on April 24 demanding that the government absorb all unemployed graduates in available vacancies in the public sector.

Agriculture as an occupation

While there is an unwavering high demand for pensionable government jobs in Sri Lanka, Sandun Abeywickreme, an ambitious young man with a university education, dreams of becoming a full-time farmer. Abeywickreme who resides in Chandrika Wewa Gowi Janapadaya in Embilipitiya, cultivates paddy, brinjal, bitter gourd and snake gourd in an area of some six acres. He hopes to begin banana cultivation in the near future as well. With substantial experience in the marketing and advertising field, Abeywickreme says that his life as a farmer is not an easy one. “There are many people who are seemingly very enthusiastic about agriculture and cultivation. They love the idea of greenery, farming and a rustic life. But that ends there for many fair reasons, I would say. Only a few people actually choose this field, and we as farmers have to fight not only with harsh land and unpredictable weather, but also with unsystematic services, bureaucracy and politically driven agendas.”

Abeywickreme says that he is not surprised that young people are reluctant to choose agriculture and farming as their occupation. “To be frank, I am not surprised at all. I personally do not believe that there is an overall promotion of the agriculture sector in the country. Even if there is, the so-called system lacks a methodical, research-based approach. Farmers in the country have a good deal of issues. None of the governments that held office in the country introduced a proper supportive system of the farmers. But this does not mean that farmers are doomed. If they go into the business with a considerable commercial capital and proper production tools, the farmers can surely profit from cultivation.”

He also pointed out that farmers struggle with management issues since they are not provided with training. “Many farmers have no basic training in cultivation. Most, including me, learn through our errors. But we cannot afford that. There are government-initiated programmes directed by divisional secretaries. However, I am not sure how many of those programmes actually reach the grassroots levels. For example, the farmers here lack awareness of water management and soil management. They need to be educated in agriculture, farming and cultivation. They are the ones who deal with the practical aspect. Or else, young people who study agriculture should come into cultivation. Most of them opt for advisory or similar positions. I think we have enough people to give advice and support to farmers, if the supportive system is regularized. We need more people coming into the field level and filling the gap. Who is better than people with a sound education in agriculture?” Abeywickreme questioned.

Structural changes needed

Speaking about his future ambition of becoming a full-time farmer, Abeywickreme explained that the biggest issue he has is the lack of land. “I have an adequate plan to expand my cultivation, but I don’t have enough land of my own. In order to execute my plan in full, I need 10–15 acres of land. It’s not convenient to cultivate on lands owned by others. It creates various kinds of problems.”

Speaking further, Abeywickreme said that there are essential structural changes needed if the agriculture sector is to attract potential young farmers.

“For one thing, no one to my personal knowledge has researched on or measured the daily vegetable demand recorded by the main markets in Sri Lanka. Due to this gap, some vegetables are in abundance in the market, whereas some others are not available. It would be a great assistance to farmers if there is some sort of a research report to understand the dynamics of vegetable consumption in the country and cultivate accordingly,” he said.

“There is a significant price issue when it comes to vegetable cultivation as well,” Abeywickreme said. “If you take the price of banana for example, when banana is harvested, the farmers sell them to mediators for a very low price. But when I travel from Embilipitiya to Colombo, I buy the same bananas for a way higher price. I personally bring my harvest directly to the Manning Market. So I get a fair price. Not all the farmers have the means or understanding to do so. This is why I emphasize on the need for a proper system to facilitate farmers in Sri Lanka.”

Meanwhile, the media secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Graduates’ Association Piyal Darshana Guruge, responding to the Daily News, stated that drastic changes are needed to the education system prevailing in the country, to create dynamic graduates with updated knowledge and skills. “Let’s take Arts students for example. In other countries there is a pool of subjects from which the Arts students can choose. In Sri Lanka, we only have a very limited choice of subjects. These subjects are taught using old syllabuses. Nothing is updated. We cannot blame the graduates looking for job opportunities in the government sector. They have done their best with the limited resources they have. So we should stop the blame game and restructure our education system.”

Guruge also pointed out that underemployment is a major problem faced by the graduates who are awaiting a job compatible with their qualifications. “These unemployed graduates do get an income from working somewhere. There are graduates who are even involved in manual work. So what they basically seek is a job appropriate to their educational qualifications.”

Changes in education

The SLFGA Chief Secretary Manula Perera, at a recent press briefing, observed that there are number of matters relating to the recruitment process of the graduate scheme. He demanded consistency in criteria and consideration of the nature of the degree when allocating marks at the interviews. Perera also said that a better designed training programme should be provided for the development officers who will soon be recruited. He also raised concerns about the period of time these officers have to undergo training. He observed that the proposed two-year training programme is too lengthy and pointed out that all previous schemes had only a one-year training period.

Meanwhile, Unnathi Samaraweera, a Senior Lecturer (Transitional) at the Sociology Department, University of Colombo, added her thoughts on this disposition. Samaraweera noted that the degree of economic development of the country directly or indirectly influences opinion about the attractiveness of government and private jobs.

“Sri Lanka, as a developing country, faces a number of challenges in the job market which are directly or indirectly linked with the development of the country,” Samaraweera said. “Unfortunately, progressive social attitudes about government jobs also indirectly discourage citizens from taking private jobs which have their own pros and cons. In terms of job security, leave opportunities, other benefits such as pensions, EPF, and ETF, it is agreeable that every educated youth prefers a government job rather than a private one. What is unfortunate here is that, we as citizens of the country tend to forget that a job is not only for our betterment, but also for the development of the country, which most of us have forgotten at the moment. Each individual as a citizen should take upon the responsibility to work towards the common goal of increasing the Gross Domestic Product, while working towards their own individual goals.”

“On the other hand, requirements for private jobs are quite different from those of government jobs, where language skill and IT proficiency are highly expected in private jobs compared to a government one,” he said. “The majority of persons with those sought-after skills would still prefer a government job if given a choice, for reasons mentioned earlier. This whole approach is an issue which we should revisit and clarify properly as citizens of this country.”

While stressing the importance of social responsibility on the part of citizens, Samaraweera said that the country’s development goals should be given priority.

“The government also has a responsibility to work for the betterment of society, and so development goals should be given priority continuously,” Samaraweera pointed out. “The fact is, no matter whether it is a government or a private job, the basic requirements of each individual should be fulfilled through the occupation, including job satisfaction and social competence.

In the meantime, each individual should be concerned about the fact that he or she is a part of a larger labour market in the country which directly as well as indirectly leads to development. Then the ‘private versus government job dichotomy’ would be lessened and development goals would be given the priority.”

On the same note, President Maithripala Sirisena recently promised to takes steps to provide employment for all the unemployed graduates, within the next six months. President Sirisena also stated that the government was focusing attention on making changes in the education system through new education policies. 


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