A farming community in Kalpitiya is reaping significant economic benefits by switching to cash crops and intensive farming with the assistance of groundwater. The communities use motorized pumps and self-fashioned pipes and sprinkler systems to grow crops the year round.
Government officials and think tanks have raised concerns with the overuse of water. Little or no regulation exists with regards to the use of groundwater. Groundwater users remain ignorant of the threat of salt water intrusion. On top of this, the farming community has aggressively borrowed in order to fund the expansion of their projects.
Soil in Kalpitiya is sandy, while the environment is semi-arid. It is only through the use of considerable inputs in water, fertilizer and pesticide is farming viable. The usage of large farming inputs have polluted the water supply. Groundwater is no longer fit for human consumption.
Landholding has become more concentrated. More efficient farmers are purchasing land from less efficient ones. There are considerable costs in acquiring land especially when the value has appreciated with the boom in agriculture. This has created considerable systemic risk.
The rise of unsustainable farming practices could plummet land values when it is not able to bear agricultural produce. Small parcels of land have been sold for the construction of wind turbines.
The farmer workforce is increasingly educated and travelled. M.L. Jesus, a leading figure in the community, is a diploma holder from the Aquinas College in Colombo. His children are currently in education and aspire to even greater levels of qualifications. Jesus complained of the difficulty in accessing advertised government loan subsidies for agriculture. He said he had given up on pursuing the matter further due to considerable bureaucracy.
The farmers are linked to mobile applications dispersing knowledge on prices and trends within the market. Their produce is also bought directly by leading supermarkets. They also have the capacity to hold on to stocks until prices rise sufficiently.
Farming has become considerably more productive. The sprinkler systems had cut down labour costs significantly. To reduce volatility in the value of their holdings, the farmers grow a variety of crops.
In a nation-state with a considerable small holding of cash crops and low levels of industrial agriculture, the capacity to increase productivity is vast.
Research by International Water Management Institute based in Colombo (IWMI) and the State are championing the improved use of water.
The rise in productivity within this community, is linked to a considerable increase in factor inputs. Increasing productivity sustainably should be the goal of policy and practitioners.
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