Colombo: the 'state scam' of granting land to farmers

President Ranil Wickremesinghe's 'Urumaya (legacy) of the president' programme grants Sri Lankan farmers the right to their land: 'But this deed is not granted for agriculture, but only for commercial cultivation for export,' explains Chinthaka Rajapaksa of the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reforms

Colombo (AsiaNews) – "At a time when the country's agriculture is going through a very difficult period and farmers are facing a real threat to their livelihood, mortgaging and renting their land to survive, the government's program of granting farmers ownership rights to agricultural land, as part of the plan to sell all the country's resources called “Urumaya (legacy) of the president” is an attempt to make farmers sell that land at a low cost,” says the Land and Agricultural Reform Movement (Monlar).

Furthermore, the prices of all agricultural production materials, including fertilizers, seeds and machinery, have increased for some time now: "It is no coincidence that this is precisely the moment in which President Ranil Wickremesinghe began to propose to the poorest farmers sell their lands giving them full ownership of the land. National and international businessmen and investors, but also Sri Lanka's creditors, would be behind this step by Colombo,” said Chinthaka Rajapaksa of the Movement for Agrarian and Land Reforms.

He added: “According to the decision taken by Wickremesinghe, full ownership of the fields has been granted to the farmers since February 5th. However, this title deed is not granted to implement agriculture, but only for commercial cultivation intended for export."

The so-called "commercial" agriculture of the program is not the traditional cultivation of fields that an average farmer does on half an acre or three acres, but it means that the crops of corn and bananas, mainly, must be able to extend over thousands of acres, as well as solar panel “fields” or stone quarries. Huge investments are needed.

“Therefore - continues Rajapaksa of Monlar - we must tell the farmers of this country that the government is trying to deceive them, once again. In this case, the farmer will not get ownership of the land, but a state scam. Also because the real advantage of the transfer of the property deed does not go to the farmer but to the bank".

To date, Sri Lanka has distributed the first 10,000 land titles to farmers as part of the first phase of the Urumaya programme: "I urge everyone to value and safeguard this right, not only for themselves but for future generations", he told Wickremesinghe inauguration.

“Urumaya” nationwide will reach 2 million farming families and has an allocated budget for 2024 of 2 billion rupees for the implementation of the program. Monlar researcher Sajeeva Chamikara commented negatively on the fact that "such an important rule on the right to land ownership does not come from a new law passed through parliament, but is implemented through a presidential circular. This is an illegal act and is intended to bring immediate political benefits in the next elections, rather than protecting agriculture as the Urumaya aims to gradually remove farmers from agriculture."

• Ari Lanka
• agriculture
• land