. Effectiveness of traditional farming in regaining saline affected paddy lands a case study on Poonagary DS Division

An examination of the current issues of marginalizing paddy lands in Poonagary DS division and exploring possible solutions.

L. S. S. Mohamed, [PGDDS/2012/005]University of Colombo

Background• Agriculture is the major economic sector of the Kilinochchi District

and was well developed. • Conflict took away economic development, productive assets,

infrastructure, traditional practices and the preserved paddy varieties and the indigenous farmers.

• Poonagary most renowned producer of the traditionally grown varieties of paddy and always had a market potential within the province where in most of the parts paddy is not grown.

• Resumption of farming following the end of conflict the sector shows several significant changes

• Mainly small holder farmers are faced with the challenge of paddy fields becoming saline affected due to the rapid usage of synthetic chemicals, and the damaged salt water intrusion bunts in Poonagary DS area of Kilinochchi District.

Literature surveyThe productivity of small scale farming was higher than that of large scale farming. The results further indicated that farmers do not possess adequate knowledge about optimum management practices and most of them being part time farmers do not allocate sufficient time to follow management practices. - study of Baddawalage and Karunagoda, 2010.The market for 2012 Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis Sri Lanka OXFAM GB - “Many farmers and officials worry about declining production in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu due to a variety of factors including lack of sufficient livestock to naturally fertilize the land, very little red rice varietal improvements since the start of the conflict, and a small but potentially growing shift to white rice production for sale outside the districts.”

The research problem

Can traditional paddy farming practices and Can traditional paddy farming practices and varieties help reclaim salinity affected paddy varieties help reclaim salinity affected paddy fields becoming abundant in Poonagary fields becoming abundant in Poonagary • What’s the existing capacity of the traditional paddy

market system in Kilinochchi to meet the rice demand of the Northern province?.• What are the constraints for the target population to

meet their needs for achieving higher market and productivity?• What are appropriate interventions to support the

paddy producers to meet market demand of traditional rice.

Objective of the study

Main objective of the study is to examine the current issues of marginalizing paddy lands in Poonagary DS division and exploring the role of traditional farming in reclaiming those.

Significance of the study

Many studies has looked into the existing issues of the paddy sector but this study will be looking into the remedies which are possible and viable in the local context to increase the productivity

The study looks the possible policy level recommendation in improving the saline affected paddy lands and its market

Proposed Methodology •Qualitative study, especially field interview method will be utilized to get the valuable information from paddy sector actors from Kilinochchi district . Further judgmental sampling method will be used to select the respondents in the paddy market chain. (Agri Extension officers, farmer leaders, provincial Director of agriculture and agrarian services. Twenty five individual farmers who have involved in the paddy farming activities, Poonagary division will be selected and also interviewed. )

•Secondary data study will be conducted to understand and compare the existed best practices in north on traditional farming in north and the best practices practiced in the other parts (especially tsunami affected) of the island.

Conceptual Framework

Effectiveness of traditional farming system in regaining

saline affected paddy lands

InterestVarieties and input

Knowledge

Marketing Availabil

ity of Labour

Extension Service

Proper organic manure

Expected Results• The study will find the adoptability of traditional

farming in Poonagary and come with certain recommendations and best practices for saline resistant farming. • The study will also propose recommendations to

the existing Agrarian Development plan of the department of agriculture on reclaiming abundant paddy land in Kilinochchi district. • The findings and results would help to plan an

alternative subsidy for traditional farming.

Bibliography• Baddawalage, M.L., and Karunagoda, K. (2010) Analysis of Factors affecting

the stability and continuity of paddy production in wet zone of SriLanka. Fourth Annual Research Forum, SriLanka, Agricultural Economic Association.

• CIC agri (pvt) Ltd, Srilanka, Website (URL) 2012 [Online] Available from:

www. Cicagri.com [Accessed 02nd Janury2013] • Comprehensive Master Plan for agriculture crop sector development,

Northern Province. (2009). Provincial Director of Agriculture, Department of agriculture, SriLanka.

• Practical Action, website(URL) 2013 available fom www.practicalaction.org

(15th January 2013)

• Sivapalan Achchuthan & Rajendran Kajananthan, A Study on Value Chain Analysis in Paddy Sector: SpecialReference to Kilinochchi District, Srilanka,Global Journal of Management and Business Research..

Thank You