By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO, Feb 29 (IPS) - In September last year, Ratna Gamage and six other Sri Lanka tea factory owners walked into the World Bank office building in Washington and threatened to launch a hunger strike against unfair trading practices.
"We had to something since the Sri Lankan government was not listening to us," recalled Gamage, a 33-year old economist who owns a state-of-the-art tea factory in southern Sri Lanka.
An embarrassed President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Deputy Finance Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris and Central Bank Governor Amarasena Jayawardene -- in the United States for discussions with the Bank -- met the group and persuaded them to call off the protest, promising to consider their demands back in Colombo.
The US-qualified Sri Lankan economist is giving an intellectual twist to the local debate over globalisation, in leading a campaign on behalf of farmers struggling against cheap imports by transnational corporations.
"Our dream is to prevent poverty-stricken Sri Lankan farmers from committing suicide," says Gamage, also chairman of the newly formed Association for the Protection of Natural Resources (APNR).
Thousands of farmers across Sri Lanka are eternally in debt -- with some committing suicide in desperation -- while the government occasionally allows the import of cheaper food commodities. The victims include private tea factory owners like Gamage.
"There were times I was so desperate -- I didn't know what to do," said Gamage, recalling how repayments on loans for his factory had to be rescheduled due to losses. Farmers over the years have been protesting against cheap imports saying they were being thrown out of business. The first to protest were potato farmers, followed by chilli and onion producers. Last year poultry farmers joined the campaign after cheaper selling, imported eggs and meat flooded the market.
"We are hit by the high costs of inputs, imports and taxes," said Somapala Perera, a poultry farmer who like many others in the business have buckled under imports and high feed costs.
The APNR was formed in May 1998, exactly a year after Gamage formed the CTC Tea Factories Association to seek justice for CTC producers who went into the business with government support and encouragement but were now facing a crisis due to imports.
"Farmers -- representing different fields of activity -- were drawn to our campaign and wanted to join up in a common front against cheap imports," Gamage said adding that poultry farmers -- who are yet to join the APNR -- have also promised support.
Residents from the northcentral town of Eppawela, who are opposing plans by the government to hand over graphite mines to a US firm, have also joined the campaign. Earlier this month, the APNR brought 400 farmers from across the country to Colombo for a seminar on the crisis facing farmers. Speakers included the Colombo representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and some ministers.
The seminar also acknowledged four persons, among them a 11-year-old boy, who committed suicide because of farm-related problems, and gave compensation to their next of kin. The boy, Upul Kumara, was depressed over his rice farmer parents inability to provide proper food, clothes and schoolbooks.
APNR officials say, according to unofficial figures, about 500 farmers took their lives in 1999 unable to pay off mounting debts to banks and moneylenders after mortgaging their homes and farms.
Over the years, Sri Lankan farmers have been caught up in rising debts due owing to uneconomical farming, low prices demanded by buyers or middlemen and globalisation.
Potato, onion and chilli farmers are constantly complaining about the influx of cheaper imports from India and Holland, while eggs from India hit the local poultry industry.
Farmers, unable to compete with food imports due to the high cost of imported inputs, want the government to impose higher tariffs on imports, lower local taxes and reduce the price of imported inputs or provide locally made inputs.
Gamage reckons the India-Sri Lanka fast-track trade liberalisation pact (FTA) will further ruin local businessmen. "With FTA and SAPTA (South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement) -- we are finished," he said. The FTA, signed in December 1998 and aimed at opening markets, is due to come into effect next month.
"We are not terrorists. We are advocating non-violent ways to fight for our rights. But that does not mean we will sit back and watch our industries and farms crumble and our families destroyed," Gamage said at his office in his Colombo office.
Gamage and other producers say poor quality and cheap teas are undermining local CTC tea production. This led to CTC tea prices crashing to 80 rupees (little over 1 dollar) per kg in May 1998 from 200 rupees per kg in the previous month.
Gamage says the Tea Association is not opposed to imports. What everyone wants is fair trading practices, he said. "What we want is proper labelling of Sri Lankan tea to make sure that what the foreign buyer gets is properly listed in the pack.":
