The Hon. Amirthanathan Adaikkalanathan

¶ 01 Thank you, Hon. Deputy Chairperson.

¶ 02 I wish to speak on issues relating to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Resources, Lands and Irrigation. Our livestock farmers are in great distress. Due to the lack of grazing land, during cultivation periods they must drive their animals miles away to other places to maintain them. In such circumstances, animals go missing or fall prey to predators. Past governments talked about pasturelands but did nothing; this new government should urgently allocate grazing lands so farmers can graze their animals in their own areas.

¶ 03 Hon. Deputy Chairperson, the Department of Forest Conservation and the Department of Wildlife Conservation—both under this Ministry—are directly related to this problem. In the past, we observed many tussles involving these two departments. They often say they will release land but refuse to do so. These are government departments under the President, yet they refuse to release lands; we do not know whether they have their own stronger laws. In our areas, whether farmlands or pastures, these departments hold control. Even when the previous government agreed to release, it never happened. It seems their laws override others, and officials continue to block solutions; thus, farmers’ problems remain unresolved.

¶ 04 Many farmlands are also under the military and security forces, who farm and rear animals there. The President, upon assuming office, assured that lands held by the military would be released; people still expect this. Immediate action must be taken regarding these two departments that block pastures and farmlands; otherwise, there could be a rice shortage.

¶ 05 Farmers in our area are not affluent; many sell their cattle or pawn jewellery to farm. According to Tamil custom a woman removes her thali only upon her husband’s death, but now even while the husband lives, women remove and pawn it in banks. They cannot redeem their pledges or repay bank loans. The purchase price for paddy has only just been set, while natural disasters continue, forcing premature, green harvests. Farmers are suffering severely. The government must attend to this: allocate pastures; provide facilities for drying paddy on platforms or with machines so farmers can avoid drying on tarpaulins where chemicals may cause health issues such as cancers. In some places expired agro-chemicals are still used, risking contamination. Therefore, regulate agricultural chemicals.

¶ 06 Regarding irrigation: in Vanni District, safe drinking water is a major issue. Mannar gets water via pipelines from Murungan. The Government, in consultation with the National Water Supply and Drainage Board and the Irrigation Department, has adopted a plan to obtain water from reservoirs. Implement this immediately so all parts of the district get safe drinking water; people can then avoid waterborne diseases. Tube wells cannot be relied upon; as deep aquifers are drawn, wells run dry; quality and quantity fluctuate. Mannar’s water resources are being depleted. The solution is to implement the reservoir-sourced drinking water project to provide safe water.

¶ 07 Likewise, in Mullaitivu and Vavuniya—especially Vavuniya—groundwater has high calcium; thus, those districts have many kidney patients. Please focus on providing safe water.

¶ 08 Thank you.