Number one priority: Go green now

Number one priority: Go green now

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Editorial

Number one priority: Go green now

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What was expected to be only “hot air” from the recent Paris Climate Change summit refreshingly turned into a triumph for the ‘cool heads’ with a historic agreement being reached. Negotiators last weekend agreed to work out ways and means to bring the Earth’s temperature down below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degree Fahrenheit) i.e. to the point that it was before the Industrial Revolution that provided economic benefits to mankind through fossil fuels at the expense of nature and the environment.

The underlying theme was; ‘save it or lose it’; i.e. save the planet or lose it. Paris was considered a major breakthrough from previous summits — Kyoto in 1997 which failed as it set emission targets only for the economically developed countries (which the US failed to ratify) and then came Copenhagen with no agreements, no outcomes, no financial benefits voted, no eco-positive technology discussed.

Many remain sceptical of the Paris accord, though. Firstly they say all this climate change talk is unnecessary hype and it is the poor who will face the biggest setbacks because of job cuts and slower economic benefits as the world cleans up from petrol, gas and coal driven energy to green energy (wind, water, sun etc).

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say. The Paris Agreement has no legal binding on Governments, no form of punishment, is based on peer pressure and has to be ratified by 55 countries. But the prospects are promising. They have pledged US$ 100 billion per annum to economically developing countries to switch from gas, petrol and coal to green energy technology. Still a ‘pledge’ no doubt, and a drop in comparison to the multi-billion dollar arms industry of these same donor countries — which Britain’s Prince Charles said in Paris was fouling up the air with wars in Europe and West Asia.

What plans Sri Lanka has for this conversion is a big question. Negotiators who went to Paris on behalf of the Government are quick to point out to the President’s election manifesto, and say that Sri Lanka will take action on its publicly outlined INDC (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) to put the world on a low carbon climate-resilient path.

Last week the controversial Norochcholai coal power plant was totally shut down, not due to a Government decision to move away from coal but due to technical reasons. The agents who brought this dud plant to Sri Lanka go scot-free with their commissions stacked in the bank while engineers sweat it out to bring it back to life. On the other side of the island, India is pressing for a coal plant to be set up in Sampur. Can Sri Lanka therefore keep to the Paris targets with corruption by Ministers, businessmen and external pressures?

One hundred billion US dollars is up for grabs under the Paris Agreement and there is no doubt going to be a scramble for this ‘pot of gold’ from amongst economically developing countries, Sri Lanka included. Will Sri Lanka be pro-active enough and activate the process of planning to get some of this money?

Sri Lanka doesn’t have the best of records when it comes to obtaining overseas financial assistance, especially when it comes in the form of aid or concessionary loans with low interest rates. That is because many of those who negotiate these loans look for kickbacks; the gravy train in the form of commissions. Aid, donations and concessionary loans are un-attractive as they rarely have under-the-table deals.

Nevertheless, there is a great need for a ‘National Proposal’ to derive targeted technological or financial benefits for Sri Lanka under the US$ 100 billion plan. The Paris Agreement will — and must, bring academics and engineers, the public and private sectors together in Sri Lanka. The academics, and engineers in particular, have a golden opportunity to work and join hands with global technologists in turning towards green energy.

The Government must not get bogged down with budgets, trade union strikes, new Constitutions and the like. Important as they may be, the outcome of the Paris Climate Change summit is where the world is heading, and Sri Lanka must not be left out in the cold, so to say.

Lanka-UN ties at 60
As Sri Lanka marks the 60th year of its admission to the United Nations Organisation (UNO), there’s no better example of the contradiction in the World Order today as where one arm of the UN is hiring Sri Lankan soldiers to engage in its peace-keeping duties and another is prosecuting them for purported violations of International Humanitarian Laws.

Sri Lanka was admitted to the UN as a full member on December 14, 1955. This was in the early years of the duplicitous World Order that prevailed in the post-World War II era, the emergence of the Super Powers and the Cold War. Sri Lanka was then considered a puppet state of Western powers and membership came as a swap (along with countries like Italy, Spain etc.,) for the admission of the then Soviet Union’s satellite states such as Bulgaria, Romania and Albania.

In the early years, Sri Lanka’s contribution to the UN in terms of manpower was disproportionate to the country’s geographic size and population. Sri Lanka’s diplomats excelled at the highest levels, the dapper Ambassador Shirley Amarasinghe with a fresh rosebud on his lapel each day being the primo uomo of the lot, and a host of technocrats served in the organisation’s various agencies, UNESCO, FAO, UNDP, UNPF and more recently in UNAIDS etc. Today’s manpower comes more from brawn than brain, but equally plays a crucial role for World Peace.

Our Ambassador to the UN reminded one and all about Sri Lanka’s contributions to the Law of the Sea Conference, the Indian Ocean Peace Zone proposal, the International Year for Homeless, the International Day for the observation of Vesak, the World Youth Skills Day — all Sri Lankan initiatives at the world body.

In return, Sri Lanka has been a major beneficiary of the largesse of the UN. Today, we publish a special article written by President Maithripala Sirisena to mark this occasion, but unfortunately the same political undercurrents that existed at the time when the country gained full membership back in 1955 are seen today. The UN is viewed with an element of suspicion as being manipulated by the big powers. The UNHRC resolution being a text book case.

The 60 year milestone was marked at the UN headquarters in New York with a lunch attended by the Secretary General, but in Sri Lanka, there seemed hardly any enthusiasm — and unfortunately so.

Crisis in the tea industry: Some possible solutions - II

November 12, 2015, 8:02 pm 

By Dr. Janaka Ratnasiri
(Continued from Wednesday)

Manufacture of CTC tea

Currently, the major destinations of Ceylon Tea is Russia and several ME countries including Iraq, Iran and Libya, all in turmoil, accounting for over 70% of total exports and these comprise mostly bulk black tea. On the other hand, countries in the West prefer tea bags, and if Sri Lanka wishes to capture these markets, more tea needs to be manufactured as tea bags.

Tea being one of Sri Lanka’s primary sources of foreign exchange, it is surprising that neither the government nor the industry has not taken any meaningful measures to recapture the markets in the West that Ceylon Tea had many decades ago and be content with markets in countries whose economies are fragile.The industry appear to be continuing business-as-usual production which it has been doing for over a century with no drive to adapt to changing market trends, except perhaps a very few.The manufacture of tea bags require CTC tea, but as explained by a former Director of TRI, the industry was not willing to shift to CTC manufacture even though the government was willing to provide subsidies up to 85% to meet the capital cost.

According to a website on CTC tea (www.teamechindia.com/mini_tea.html), India has developed mini-plants for the manufacture of CTC as a cottage industry with capacity of only several hundreds of kilograms of green leaf per day. The investment is little and it is said the rate of return could be around 25%. Apparently, their production has a good demand. Traditionally, tea was grown by British companies owning large estates and hence large factories were built to cater to their own green leaf production. Despite the fact that the majority of tea production is now in the hands of small holders in the low country, the same tradition of building large factories continues. The SLTB could consider the introduction of these mini-plants enabling the small holder societies to undertake the manufacture of CTC tea by themselves under their supervision and promote their sales, if the large factories are not willing to manufacture CTC tea. The profits now earned by the large factories could then be diverted directly to the small holder.

The UK market

The 2012 Annual Report of SLTB says that "the UK market was transformed into a predominately tea bag market accounting for approximately 96% of tea cups drunk daily in UK brewed from tea bags". Tea consumption in UK which was 1.97 kg/capita/year is among the highest in the world.Total amount of tea imported to UK was 144.6 kt in 2012, out of which only 30 kt was imported from Asia, the balance coming from Africa. Regrettably, SLTB having identified the market needs in UK, has not taken any initiatives to capture that market for Ceylon Tea.

The exports to UK from Sri Lanka in 2012 was only 2,300 t which was only 0.7% of SL’s exports and 1.6% of all tea imported to UK. If SL wishes to capture a greater share for SL tea in UK, it will have to supply tea bags rather than bulk tea. Currently, tea bag production is only about 9%. What are the impediments against increasing this share? If the factories need to install new machinery, isn’t it worth government providing some assistance to tea factory owners to enhance their tea bag production?

Currently, tea marketing in UK is in the hands of three multi-national companies two of which have operations in Sri Lanka (SLTB AR 2012). The SLTB could initiate negotiations with them to get our products into the shelves of grocery shops and super markets in UK. Once they get firm orders with time targets, manufacture could commence to meet those targets. Concurrently, it could initiate a publicity campaign along with opening of a tea promotion unit in UK.

The North American market

With respect to USA market, the SLTB Annual Report says the highest growth in the USA market was for ready-to-drink (RTD) products sold in cans and bottles. SL’s export to USA in 2012 was only 3,277 t comprising only 1% of SL’s exports and 1.6% of tea, which is imported to USA predominantly from Argentina. At a National Tea Forum held in Colombo recently, a foreign guest speaker said that SL’s tea industry should endeavor to come up with innovative products rather than continuing with traditional products and he mentioned particularly RTD products as an example.

In this respect, I recall a scientist who moved from the TRI to CISIR several decades ago developing a carbonated tea-based drink which was acceptable during trials. Subsequently TRI had also developed a RTD product in association with a private company (TRI, 2003). However, it was not picked up by the industry to make it a commercial product that time. Currently, however, a minute amount of RTD is exported, according to SLTB database. A tea-extract based tea syrup for preparing ice-tea was exhibited at a recent Tea and Coffee Show in Vienna, according to a recent issue of the Tea and Coffee Trade Journal. Perhaps, the carbonated-tea drink project could be revived with industry participation and marketed aggressively in the West as a substitute for "cola" drinkswhich is a multi-billion dollar industry.

Challenges in marketing tea overseas

The above propositions to capture markets in the West would take many years to accomplish as penetration of markets need long gestation periods. Shifting of the destinations to European and American markets need an aggressive approach by the government both at policy level and technology development initiatives. Such a move needs the cooperation of the private sector involved in the tea trade including tea factories. It is desirable if the government authorities undertake a study to determine the reasons for the industry not manufacturing tea to suit the international markets and to make recommendations to improve the situation enabling them to capture new markets.

Unlike in the past, selling food items today in Europe is subject to strict quality control and the industries will have to comply with all their standards, for which government intervention is necessary. The current practice of importing low grade tea from Asia and re-exporting after blending with local tea needs review, as it would tarnish the image of Ceylon Tea. Government should ensure that all varieties of tea exported meet currently available international standards. The quality control needs to beginning from the fields where the green leaves have no agro-chemical residues.

Another issue impacting on exports is Sri Lanka tea having the highest price in the region. According to SLTB annual Report 2012, the Colombo auction price was USD 3.07 per kg in 2012 while all other countries offer their tea at prices lower extending down to USD 1.70 per kg. In a report of the Indian Tea Board released in 2012, the average price paid for green leaf was INR 8 per kg, equivalent to LKR 18 per kg. In Sri Lanka, at the current rates of wages, pluckersworking in small holdings are paid LKR 648 (with EPF and ETF) for plucking 24 kg, the day’s minimum target, and this works out to LKR 27 per kg. So, the cost of plucking green leaf in Sri Lanka is 1½ times costlier than in India.

Issues on wages

Another development in the tea industry is the agreement reached recently by regional plantation companies (RPC) and worker trade unions to raise the maximum daily wages to LKR 790 as against the present maximum wage of LKR 620 with effect from April 2015, as reported in the media. Though the government holds discussions with RPCs and trade unions and make decisions, subsequently the decisions are enforced on the small sector also. There are two categories of small holders; those who grow tea in their backyards extending to an acre or less and others who may have extents of a few acres up to a few tens of acres. In the case of the former, no labour is hired and all work including plucking and weeding is done by members of the household. Whatever money received for leaf goes as income and wages board decisions do not affect them.

On the other hand, management of larger extents require hiredlabour who need to be paid at rates determined by the respective wages board including EPF and ETF. Wages and other costs need to be paid out of money paid by factories and this keeps declining. Under such a situation, if the wages are increased, management of small holdings no longer becomes viable. Nevertheless, tea pluckers deserve a better lot. Tea plucking is not like working in a factory or in an office. Pluckers have to be in the field in the sun and in rain, trudge up and down the hills carrying kilos of leaf on their back and then to the collection centre. However, at the end of the day, they get only a pittance while the staff in exporters’ and brokers’ offices sitting in air-conditioned environs get the lion share. This situation needs to change.

When this problem was posed tolabour officers, their answer was that the productivity of workers need to be increased, but there is a limit to it. Tea yield is subject to vagaries of weather including prolonged cloud cover depriving plants adequate radiation to produce shoots, and extended droughts depriving the plants adequate water. With the anticipated climate change, tea yield, particularly in the low country, is forecasted to decline significantly. Though adaptation measures are available, small holders may not have the capacity to implement them and the government intervention is necessary to source funds from international agencies providing funding for such activities under the Climate Change Convention, to provide relief to affected small holders.

Conclusion

Considering the wide difference between the auction price of tea and its export value, as a short term measure,a mechanism should be established to divert part of the profits currently earned by the exporters to growers and processors, either by increasing the cess levy or introducing an export duty.As a mid-term measure, the government needs to explore aggressively the possibility of diverting Sri Lanka’s tea to new markets in the West in a form acceptable to them. The local industry also should adapt to changing trends in the global marketsincludingexpansion of the manufacture of tea bags and development of new forms of tea such as ready-to-drink products to cater to overseas markets. Being a primary source of revenue to the country, all stakeholders should join in safeguarding the industry.

(The writer was the Principal Investigator of a GEF funded Project on Impacts of Climate Change on Tea Plantations in Sri Lanka,carried out during 2002 – 2004 by a team of scientists from the TRI and Meteorological Dept. with assistance from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. He is a small-holder of tea as well.)

Dailynews 11/11/2015

Resolving CKDu problem: Who should do what?

NOV

11

2015

0

Features

Ranjit Mulleriyawa

“Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?” said Alice.

“That depends a good deal on where You want to get to”, said the cat.”
- Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Caroll

---

Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain Origin (CKDu) is currently the most serious non communicable disease afflicting farming communities in Sri Lanka’s dry zone. It was first diagnosed in the mid 1990s in the North Central Province (NCP), and has now been positively diagnosed in six out of the nine provinces in the country. Over 25,000 people are estimated to have died from this kidney disease already. Approximately 1000 patients die from the disease each year and about 2000 new patients seek treatment for end stage renal disease each year at government hospitals. Many times that number may be developing clinical symptoms of the disease and progressing towards end stage renal failure.

The Ministry of Health currently spends over 400 million rupees annually in the management of renal disease (on dialysis, transplants etc). Costing the loss to the Nation’s labour force defies quantification.

The CKDu problem has been much talked about, dissected and debated on many occasions at several fora, but no cohesive plan of action to deal with it has still been formulated.

This should have been the responsibility of the Presidential task force specifically established to deal with the problem, but for reasons better known to itself, it has still failed to live up to expectations.

The magnitude and gravity of the CKDu problem is such that it clearly needs the concerted action of several ‘actors’ – government departments, universities, nongovernmental organisatons (NGOs), donors, corporate sector and civil society groups. This article attempts to spell out a few key areas which need to be addressed by various agencies.

The Ministry of health has played a valuable role in the treatment of CKDu patients (through dialysis, transplant programmes and medication) as well as screening communities in endemic areas. While appreciating these efforts, it needs to be recognized that screening programmes designed to detect CKDu in its early stages, have a long way to go. According to reliable estimates, less than five per cent of the population in the North Central region has still been screened. What about the rest of the country?

Department of Agriculture (DA)

CKDu appears to be essentially confined to areas where rice cultivation is the primary occupation of the people. As such, farming practices of rice farmers have been long suspected to be connected to the disease. Misuse of pesticides by farmers has been frequently pointed out as a matter needing urgent attention. However, the Department of Agriculture has still failed to revitalize its farmer education programme (extension service).

Banning the import of various pesticides appears to have been the DA’s major activity to date. Here too, the authority of its key decision making body (The Pesticides Technical Advisory Committee) has been usurped by politicians resulting in some hasty, misguided actions having far reaching negative impact on the island’s tea estates.

Detecting pesticide residues in vegetables and fruit has been long neglected. Does the DA have any clear programme or strategy to address this issue?

Water Board

All available evidence clearly indicates a strong association between CKDu and drinking water obtained from shallow dug wells. Analysis of water quality in many of these wells shows a high concentration of Fluoride, and dissolved Calcium and Magnesium salts. Yet, not all wells appear to be ‘bad’. There is considerable spatial variation in water quality of dug wells. This would indicate a need to analyze water in all wells in CKDu endemic areas and map the locations using the latest GPS technologies. Is the Water Board equal to this task?

A recent COSTI (Coordinating Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation) report has highlighted the fact that many water purification facilities (R.O. Plants) in Anuradhapura area have been established in locations where there was no need for such purification in the first place! Besides engaging in this wasteful activity, the responsible agencies (mostly NGOs), have been charging rupees one to one fifty for each liter of “purified water” distributed to poor villagers. Had the Water Board been consulted before embarking on such expensive misadventures, much waste and unnecessary costs could have been avoided.

Universities

Universities have been in the forefront of CKDu research contributing much to our current understanding of the subject. However, the aetiology of the disease is still uncertain, and further research needs to be carried out in an effort to pin point the specific cause.

However, there appears to be a need to assess the current status of research programmes, and identify key areas needing further investigation. Would the National Academy of Sciences address this issue?

Shift in focus urgently required

With almost 2000 new CKDu patients joining the ranks of those already receiving treatment each year, there is an urgent need to pay more attention to CKDu preventive measures based on available evidence/knowledge. Providing access to clean drinking water, making health education more effective at village level, and farmer education in the rational use and safe handling of pesticides are some such interventions that need to be implemented immediately.

Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs)

Experience all over the world has shown that NGOs can be more effective than government departments in reaching out to people at the periphery. Sadly, government agencies in our country do not seem to realize this fact, and even the NGOs do not seem to be aware of what they could do in effectively dealing with the CKDu problem.

NGO involvement is essential in dealing with issues pertaining to people in CKDu endemic areas. They can play a vital role in CKDu prevention programmes (providing clean drinking water, improving health education at village level, environmental protection, preventing pollution of water resources and farmer education in safe handling of pesticides). All these activities require close interaction with under-privileged people (a subject that NGOs are good at). NGOs could also assist in counseling and providing psycho-social support to CKDu patients and their families. Many local NGOs tend to be funded and ‘donor driven’. Perhaps it is lack of donor support for CKDu related issues which prevent NGOs from playing a more assertive role in reaching out to villagers crying out for help.

Donors

Donors- particularly the large international agencies- tend to be looked upon as ‘Cash cows’ to be ‘milked’ as and when the need arises. But if donors are to be really effective, they must ensure that their assistance is properly focused and reaches the people in need. Their assistance is best linked to the NGO sector- particularly those with a proven track record. This should also go beyond provision of mere financial resources, but also address issues pertaining to capacity building of NGO personnel.

Donor assistance is frequently sought in purchasing ‘hardware’ (like water filtration plants). In all such instances, donors must consider the interests of the ultimate beneficiaries – the rural people. They must not forget the social context of dry zone villagers in prescribing solutions.

They need to be aware of the specific rural context- the conditions under which the people live, and ensure that the equipment provided can be maintained and sustained by the beneficiaries themselves. The history of rural development is replete with instances of misguided high cost ‘imported solutions’ which are beyond rural peoples’ capacity to maintain and sustain. Most appropriate solutions tend to be those that are technically effective, easy for rural people to understand and implement, and maintain themselves with minimum dependence on ‘outsiders’.

Sustaining development initiatives requires beneficiary participation in the decision making process. NGOs have the most experience in dealing with such activities, and donors may do well to ensure that NGOs funded by them have proven skills and experience in participatory development.

Corporate sector

Recent years have seen a marked increase in the growth and prosperity of the corporate sector in Sri Lanka. Some of them take a keen interest in sharing part of their prosperity through ‘Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)’ projects. Many such laudable initiatives may be directed towards CKDu prevention programmes.

Civil society

Civil society represents a hitherto untapped resource rich in varied skills and resources, besides possessing much good will. We Sri Lankans appear to be weak in harnessing this potential. Let’s make an effort to involve them through better information and more effective community education programmes. The print and electronic media need to play a bigger role in galvanizing civil society to address this (CKDu), and other issues of national importance. Center for Education, Research and Training in Kidney Diseases (CERTKid)

This is a multi-disciplinary team of researchers (Nephrologists, Physicians, Pathologists, Geologists, Chemists, Agronomists and Rural Development Specialists) committed to comprehensive investigation of the CKDu problem. The organization is based at the Medical Faculty, University of Peradeniya. Its guidance and advisory services are available free of charge to any organization interested in addressing the problem of CKDu.

(The writer is a farmer, researcher and rural development activist interacting with dry zone farming communities for over 30 years. He is currently associated with the Center for Education, Research and Training in Kidney Diseases (CERTKid), University of Peradeniya. He may be contacted at: rangoviya2013@gmail.com) 

Kurundu – the spice of life

November 10, 2015, 7:44 pm 

"You touched

your belly to my hands

in the dry air and said

I am the cinnamon

peeler’s wife. Smell me"

- The Cinnamon Peeler - Michael Ondaatji

By Siri Ipalawatte - Australia

In his Heroides, the Augustan poet relates the agony undergone by Helen of Sparta as she tries to decide whether to abandon home, reputation, and family so as to run off with Paris, her smooth-talking and handsome house guest.

"You will go through Trojan towns, a great queen, and the common people will believe that a new goddess is among them. Wherever you are the flame with offer up cinnamon and a sacrificial victim with strike the bloody earth."

The precise force of the offer was unmistakable. It worked, and Helen of Sparta became Helen of Troy. As Paris promised Helen, cinnamon was burned in incense and added to the flame in the temple brazier during the performance of religious rituals.

When Nero’s consort, Poppaea, died from a kick he dealt to her stomach – according to historian Suetonius they had a row after he came late from the races – her body was cremated on a colossal pyre of cinnamon – a symbolic status and a gesture to represent the depth of his sadness.

Where the cinnamon of Nero and Paris was grown is a matter of some doubt: but the tree that bears the spice, Cinnamomum Zeylanicum, which derived from the Hebraic and Arabic term ‘ammom’ meaning fragrant plant, is a small, evergreen plant, native to Sri Lanka where the situation and climate are so exactly suited to it that none so fine and delicately aromatic has been found elsewhere. Although tea has long ousted cinnamon as Sri Lanka’s most famous export, it was cinnamon that placed Sri Lanka on the list of countries the colonial powers wanted to conquer. Among the first to mention cinnamon in Sri Lanka was Ibn Batuta who visited the island in the mid fourteenth century. He landed at Puttalam and found the shore covered with cinnamon wood, which the merchants of Malabar (the present Kerala) transported without any other price than a few articles of clothes given as presents to the king.

It was a drab evening in November 15, 1505 in the vast Indian Ocean. Captain Dom Lourenco de Almeida stood proudly on the quarterdeck of the flagship that belonged to the fleet of nine vessels he commanded. The fleet was bound for the Maldives at the express wish of his father on a specific mission but destiny decreed otherwise. The fleet was caught in a fierce storm, blown off course, and eventually anchored off Colombo. Dharma Parakramabahu VIII, the king of Kotte, sent emissaries to greet the visitors, and they were received at court shortly thereafter. Parakramabahu, made insecure by threats to his kingdom from within Sri Lanka, was quick to come to an arrangement with the Portuguese – especially in consideration of their artillery – for protection in exchange for 400 bahars (a bahar in the cinnamon trade weighted 744 Dutch pounds) of cinnamon annually.

For more than a century after they took control of Sri Lanka in 1658, the Dutch harvested only wild cinnamon. Then, during the tenure of Governor Wilhelm Falck (1765-1785), being unable to rely on the quality of cinnamon collected from the wild, the Dutch had begun planting it. The Dutch commissioned a Swedish botanist, Carl Peter Thunberg, to make a study of cinnamon in Sri Lanka. After years of travelling in the East, Thunberg resided in Sri Lanka between 4 January 1777 and 14 March 1778. Following his return to Europe he published a two-volume account of his experiences and devoted several chapters to his stay in Ceylon.

In his study, Thunberg listed ten varieties of cinnamon grown in Sri Lanka; rasa kurundu, nai kurundu, capuru kurundu, kahata kurundu, sevel kurundu, davul kurundu, nica kurundu, kathuru kurundu, mal kurundu, and tom-pat kurundu. He wrote how the cinnamon trees were naturally spread around the forest with the help of birds who dumped the pits after eating its fruits.

As a result of this initiative ‘cinnamon gardens’ sprang up in and around Colombo; however, it was under Governor Van de Graaff that the cinnamon plantations really took off. Through rewards he managed to excite many headmen into cultivating the tree. Even military and civil servants of the Dutch East India Company began planting trees. When the Batavia administration wrote to Colombo in 1789 that the expenses for the cinnamon gardens in Ceylon were growing out of hand, and instructed the government to delay the work for the time being, Van de Graaff, on the advice of his Mahamudaliyar, Nicholaas Dias Abeysinghe, decided to hand over the company’s plantations to the cinnamon peelers in small plots. In 1793, fifteen hundred deeds were printed for this purpose and given to Salagama caste.

So unjustly rigid was the monopoly on cinnamon maintained by the Dutch Government that neither the European nor native proprietors of the land were allowed to iestroy, cut, touch the bark, or pluck the leaves of any cinnamon plant that grew on their properties. They were also compelled to give notice to the superintendent of cinnamon plantations when a cinnamon sprouted from the earth or severe penalties were imposed. From Old Dutch records the British learned that for more than one hundred years, the revenue derived annually from the sale of cinnamon was seldom less than four hundred thousand English pounds. With a strictly enforced export monopoly, they ensured that world consumption stayed almost at around 182,000 kg from 1691 to the end of Dutch rule in 1796.

When the British wrested control of the island from the Dutch in 1798, they continued the monopoly of cinnamon exports, which was eventually abandoned only in 1833 when it became clear that free trade could no longer be prevented.

Cinnamon is harvested every six months during the monsoon season. The moisture makes it easier to remove the cinnamon from the branches. The cinnamon trees are cut just above the ground and from the stump a new tree will grow ready for harvesting in another two years. The trees stumps have distinct reddish shoots whilst the mature trees are littered with acorn-like nuts, which are replanted to produce more trees.

"This is a physically demanding job, which requires the precision of a surgeon’s hand." Mendis looked at me and continued; " I learned the craft from my father and grand father". This was when I visited my friend’s ten-acre cinnamon plantation in Beliatta last year.

Mendis belongs to a special and ancient caste of people – the Salagama – that has for generations practised this art in the southwest of Sri Lanka, a group that is distinctly different from the cultivators. The Salagama (or Chalias as the Portuguese called them) formed the cinnamon peeling caste and collected and prepared the cinnamon for the Dutch as part of their ‘corvee labour’. Their department, called Mahabadda, was put under control of a Dutch officer, the captain of cinnamon (kapitein der kaneel).

And I patiently watched the amazing process: the shoots are first scraped off with a semi-circular blade, and then the stick is rubbed with a brass rod –

Pittala polla

– to loosen the bark, which then is split with a curved knife with a blade of copper two and a half inches long –

Kokaththa

– and peeled off. Mendis seated on the ground gently removed lengths of bark from the branch in one piece. The peeled bark is telescoped one into another forming a quill about 107 centimetres long and filled with trimmings of the same quality bark to maintain a cylindrical shape.

He told me that after four or five days drying, the quills are rolled on a board to tighten the fillings and then placed in subdued sunlight for further drying. Finally, they are bleached with sulphur dioxide and sorted into grades. The peelers cut the cinnamon into different sizes depending on the price of the different qualities on the world market. Sri Lanka is the world’s leading source of cinnamon, accounting for about 60 per cent of the total global output.

While peeled cinnamon is the most famous product, oil extracted from the cinnamon leaves has become a lucrative industry in recent years. The cinnamon leaves are dried in a barn until golden brown. Steam is then put through the leaves in copper vats, and the oil-infused vapour rises into a pipe network, which is cooled in water tanks to return the vapour to liquid.

The golden cinnamon oil collects on the surface and is siphoned off via a series of buckets and then bottled. Sri Lankan cinnamon produces a scent far superior to that of cinnamon cultivated in other countries such as Madagascar, Burma and Indonesia; as a consequence Sri Lanka cinnamon continues even today to command the highest price.

In addition to its long history of use as a sweet spice used in cooking and as a perfume, cinnamon also has medicinal applications. Cinnamon contains a number of powerful antioxidant compounds that help to prevent premature destruction of healthy cells in the body. Studies have shown that cinnamon possesses anti-microbial properties that help to reduce the risk of food-borne diseases caused by bacteria, but the medicinal use of cinnamon gaining most attention these days concerns blood sugar stabilization.

One recent study at Joslin Diabetes Centre in Boston, which included 10 investigations and a total of 543 patients, was published earlier this year in the Annals of Family Medicine. "Doses in the studies ranged from 120 milligrams a day to six grams sprinkling cinnamon on food might help to control a diabetic's blood sugar," says Emmy Suhl, a certified diabetes educator and nutritionist at Joslin Diabetes Centre in Boston.

"If you decide to use a lot of cinnamon, you do need to use Sri Lankan cinnamon because it will lower your risk of liver damage," says Angela Ginn, who is an education coordinator at the University of Maryland Centre for Diabetes and Endocrinology in Baltimore.

In 2014, Sri Lanka produced 18,250 metric tonnes of cinnamon and exported 13,864 metric tonnes; the major importers were Mexico, USA, Colombia, Peru and Germany.

Sri Lanka has moved up a notch and ranked at eighth place in the 2015 World Giving Index (WGI), the UK based Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) reports. The index which looks at charitable behaviours of 145 countries including the tendency of helping strangers, donating money and volunteering was compiled by the CAF. Sri Lanka was ranked ninth last year. Myanmar has been ranked first in the index followed by the US, New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the UK. According to WGI, Burundi is the least charitable country followed by China, Yemen and Lithuania. Sri Lanka has scored 60 percent in the sub category of helping a stranger and 48 per cent at volunteering time. India has ranked 106th, Pakistan at 94th, Afghanistan at 84th, Nepal at 76th, Bhutan at 17th and Bangladesh at 95th places at the index. Several notable findings of this year’s index include a rising trend in donating money and helping a stranger while volunteering has recorded a minor downturn. For the first time in six years, the World Giving Index has revealed that men are more likely to donate money than women. “Behaviour in a few very large countries has significantly impacted the numbers of people giving worldwide. Cultural and religious practices as well as disruptive events, are at the root of a number of big changes seen this year. Despite their highly developed economies, only five G20 countries are in this year’s Top 20, reminding us that economic prosperity does not automatically lead to a rise in generosity,” the index report said. - See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/94733/sl-ranked-8th-in-world-giving-index#sthash.hGnV4taG.dpuf