Our college field trip to Jaffna was one that I rather looked forward to as it was going to be my first time in the Northern part of the island and it certainly has lived up to my expectations. So far Jaffna has proven to be both educational and enjoyable at the same time.
On our first day of field work (Tuesday 28th) I had the opportunity of interviewing Mr. U.L.M Haldeen Secretary of agriculture, Northern Provincial Council and and Mr. Sivakumar Provincial Director of Agriculture, Northern Province. The interview was mainly focused on one of Jaffna's most cultivated agricultural products; grape fruit.
At present grape fruit is being cultivated in about 110 hectares of land and prior to the war it had been over 200 hectares.During the turbulent times in Jaffna the production of grapes dropped drastically due to the fact that the farmers were not able to sell their crops. Since the opening of the A9 road, new potential was born for the farmers to sell their harvest in the southern markets. This has been a stroke of encouragement for others who wanted to step into the business of cultivating grapes and the ministry stated that they too are doing all things possible to get more and more farmers interested in the trade. It is one of the ministries main goals to once again reach over 200 hectares of grape cultivation within the next two years.
One of the ministries main focuses is to improve the quality of the grape fruit in Jaffna by improving the taste of the fruit. The local grapes are known for being small in size and rather sour where as the imported grape fruit are larger and sweeter. However the locally produced grape fruit is sold for nearly half the price of the imported ones. Yet consumers tend to buy the imported grapes because of its taste, which poses a threat to the local grape farmers. As a solution to this the department is currently working on introducing new varieties of the fruit that are of better quality; taste and otherwise. Another focus of the ministry is to figure out effective methods of saving crops from diseases and pests and to educate farmers about them.
Not only did we speak to the relevant authorities but we also visited a few vineyards which were absolutely beautiful to see. When speaking to the farmers I was quite fascinated to find out that here in Jaffna the cultivating of grapes was not just a business, it had much culture and tradition entangled with it. They had certain rules such as: no women allowed in the vineyards, shoes should not be worn inside the farm and so on. The farmers said that growing grape fruit was like raising a child, they very passionately explained to us how much nurturing, caring, hard work and time it takes to grow a good crop. Just like making a cup of tea, it seems that growing grapes too is somewhat of an art. It was rather disappointing to hear that the next generation apparently is not interested in taking up this art. They are no longer interested in occupations such as farming and the farmers further explained that this was a result of modernization or in simpler terms, sons no longer accept the tradition of following the footsteps of their fathers. Therefore, despite it being a very profitable trade it is still one that is slowly dying. Can this dying art be saved?
-Sandarangi Perera.
No comments:
Post a Comment