கவனிக்க: இந்த மின்னூலைத் தனிப்பட்ட வாசிப்பு, உசாத்துணைத் தேவைகளுக்கு மட்டுமே பயன்படுத்தலாம். வேறு பயன்பாடுகளுக்கு ஆசிரியரின்/பதிப்புரிமையாளரின் அனுமதி பெறப்பட வேண்டும்.
இது கூகிள் எழுத்துணரியால் தானியக்கமாக உருவாக்கப்பட்ட கோப்பு. இந்த மின்னூல் மெய்ப்புப் பார்க்கப்படவில்லை.
இந்தப் படைப்பின் நூலகப் பக்கத்தினை பார்வையிட பின்வரும் இணைப்புக்குச் செல்லவும்: Marga 1977 (4.3)

Page 1
OUARTERY JOURNA
 

VOL 4 NO. 3 1977
RCE ECONOMY IN SRI LANKA: Consumption Characteristics and Pro= duction Trends
NEVELLE E DERSENGHE 3
OMAS T. POLEMAN
POPULATION GROWTH, NUTRITON AND FOOD SUPPLIES EN SER LANKA
BRATRICE W DE MEE & T. OGARATINAM:
A. CRITICAL LOOK AT THE NEW PARADIGM OF COMMUNICA TION AND DEVELOPMENT
SHELTON A GUNARA "NE
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AS THE SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF
DEVELOPMENT
OHN W. FORE
Published by
MARGA INSTITUTTE

Page 2


Page 3

M A R G A
Λ
Published by M A R G A INSTITUTE

Page 4
Editor
Godfrey Gunatilleke
Editorial Committee:
Chandra H. Soysa S. R. Asirwatham Dr. S. P. F. Senaratne Malkanthi 1Sanayakkara
Editorial Office:
61, Isipąthana Mawatha, Colombo 5, . Sri Lanka.
C) Marga Institute
Inquiries regarding permission for republication to be addressed to the Editor.

M A R G A
Vol. 4 No. 3
977
NEWILLE. EDIRISINGHE 1
& THOMAST. POLEMAN
BEATRICE v. DE MEL 60 & T. JOGARATNAM
SHELTON A. 93
GUNARATNA
JOHN W. FORJE 110
RICE ECONOMY IN SRI LANKA: Consumption Characteristics and Production Trends
POPULATION GROWTH, NUTRITION AND FOOD SUPPLIES IN SRI LANKA
A CRITICAL LOOK AT THE NEW PARADIGM OF COMMUNICATION AND DEVELOPMENT
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AS THE SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF DEVELOPMENT

Page 5

Marga Vol. 4 Issue No. 3
NEW CONTRIBUTORS
Neville Edirisinghe
T. Jogaratnam
Shelton A. Gunaratne
John W. Forje
ls General Manager Paddy Marketing Board.
ls Professor of Agricultural Economics, University of Sri Lanka.
ls on the staff of the Capricornia Institute of Advanced Education, Rockhampton, Queensland, and was a journalist in Sri Lanka in the early siXties.
ls resèarch Assistant, Documentation on Science and Technology in Africa, Research Policy Programme, University of Lund, Sweden

Page 6

RICE ECONOMY IN SRI LANKA: CONSUMPTION CHARACTERISTICS AND PRODUCTION TRENDS
NEVILLEEDIRISINGHE AND THOMAS T. POLEMAN
Government rice policy has traditionally been . consumeroriented. The efforts to provide "sufficient" . quantities of rice to the consumers by maintaining relatively high levels of imports and a state-sponsored rice distribution scheme bear evidence to this fact. On the other hand, government policy has also been directed towards increasing the domestic output of rice with a view to reduce the dependence on imports to meet the rice requirements. For an objective evaluation of the government involvement in the rice economy, an appreciation of the place of rice in the average diet and household budget, and other factors influencing demand for rice is of vital importance. ܀
I. Place of Rice in the Diet
The daily diet in Sri Lanka generally consists of two principal meals and one light meal taken normally as breakfast. Rice forms the bulk of the two prhncipal meals accompanied by such items as vegetables, fish or meat. It is not uncommon, particularly in the major rice growing areas, for the bulk of the breakfast too to consist of rice. More specific information as to the relative importance of rice in the average diet in terms of absolute quantities and nutritional composition,
This article, comprises chapters 3 and 4 of the study “Implications of Government Intervention in the rice economy of Sri Lanka,' published in January 1976 in the Cornell International Agricultural Mimeograph Series, by the Dept of Agricultural Economics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

Page 7
2
expenditure on food and total food availability can be obtained from the official food balance sheets and the crosssection surveys on consumer expenditure.
Rice Consumption in the Recent Past
Recent trends in apparent per capita food consumption can be discerned from the food balance sheets that are available for a considerable period of time. The food balance sheet technique takes into account domestic production, net trade and net changes in year-end stocks to constitute the total food supplies in a given year. The net food supply available for human consumption is the residual after allowing for animal feed, seed use, industrial nonfood use, waste and processing or extraction losses. The accuracy of the food balance depends on the techniques used for gathering data on supplies and coefficients used in determining utilization. T. Jogaratnam and T. T. Poleman in their comprehensive analysis of food in the economy of Ceylon1 have made a critical evaluation of the methodology adopted in the compilation of Sri Lanka food balance sheets. In order to arrive at a reasonably accurate estimate of the apparent per capita food consumption during the period 1955-1960, data given in the food balance sheets pertaining to the same period were crosschecked with the findings of the two consumer expenditure surveys conducted by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in 1953 and 1963 and the dietary survey conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics in 1957. The results of this careful process of eliminating the shortcomings and inaccuracies of the existing data can be reasonably treated as representative of the per capita food availability during the period under consideration. Results of this study are given in Table 2. -
The dominating position of rice in the average diet is clearly seen from these results. It accounts for nearly 50 -percent of the total calories consumed during the period. While the starchy staples as a whole constitute 68 percent of the
N
1. T. Jogaratnam and T. T. Poleman, Food in the Economy of Ceylon, (Cornell International Agricultural Development Bulletin 11, Oct. 1969.)

3
total caloric intake, the rice component accounts for almost 75 percent of the starchy staples. Over one-third of the protein consumed is derived from rice. The nutritional composition of the average die has been considered as adequate to meet the average energy requirements and the absence of any marked indications of undernourishment in the country is adduced as further proof of this adequacy.
Since the second half of the 1960s, concert.cd efforts at increasing the domestic food production have been made and considerable increases in output have been observed. What effects these changes have had on the average diet chn be seen from the data given in the food balance sheets pertaining to this period. The findings of the recently conducted socioeconomic survey (1969/70) by the Department of Census and Statistics can be a useful crosscheck on the balance sheet data. The average per capita supply of total calories and from cereals for the nine-year period from 1965 as obtained from the food balance sheets and the findings of the SocioEconomic Survey, are given in Table 3.
TABLE 2.
Sri Lanka: Adjusted Balance Sheet Estimates, 1955-1960 (per capita per day)
Commodity Calories Protein
(grams) Cereals 1200 22.6 Rice 950 16.3 Others 250 6.3 Roots and Tubers 74 0.6 Sugar 190 0.0 Pulses 58 12.7 Vegetables 28 1.7- Fruits 9 0.1 Meat 12 0.8 . Fish - 60 7. Eggs 4 0.3 :۔ Milk 13 0.7 Fats and Oils . . 477 0.7
TOTAL 2125 47.3.
Source: T. Jogaratnam and T. T. Poleman, Food in the Economy of Ceylon, (Cornell Int. Agric. Dev. Bull. No. 11 October 1969). v

Page 8
TABLE 3.
Sri Lanka: Apparent per Capita Caloric Consumption, 1965-1973 and 1969/70
(calories per day)
Food Balance Sheets Socio-Economic
Item 1965-1973 Survey, 1969/70
Rice 976 917 Wheat Flour 290 283 Other Cereals 23 20 Total Cereals 1289 1220 TOTAL CALORES 2225 2264
Source: Sri Lanka, Department of Census and Statistics, Food Balance Sheets 1965-1979, and Socio-Economic Survey 1969-70.
There is considerable agreement between the two sources of data. Compared with the earlier estimates, an increase of about 100 calories in the daily per capita availability can be observed. What is perhaps more significant is the indication that rice consumption has tended to remain almost constant compared with earlier estimates. When the average of the two rice consumption estimates given in Table 3 is considered it is almost equal to the 950 calories estimated by the earlier analysis. The increase in the total calories from cereals evident in the latter period can be explained by the increased consumption of wheat flour and wheat products during this period. Based on these findings it appears reasonable to conclude the rice consumption has tended to remain constant around a level equivalent to 950 calories per day. In terms of annual rice consumption this is equal to about 97 kilograms of rice per person.
Long-term Trends
A pertinent question to raise is whether the present day general character of the average diet has been one that persisted through time. More specifically, what have been the long-term changes in the dietary habits of the people? Keeping accounts of the quantities of food, made available

5
for human consumption has only a short history. The food balance sheets are less than three decades old; the more reliable ones have a history still shorter. Hence, as to the past only inferences can be made. As observed earlier, the economic base of the past civilization has been closely associated with rice culture. For centuries past, rice played a unique role affecting almost every aspect of socio-economic activity. The emphasis given to rice has been so great that it has almost completely overshadowed information on the existence of other forms of food. It is not surprising that the words “rice" and "food' have become synonymous. The obvious conclusion is that the present dominance of rice in the average diet has its linkages with a history that is two and a half millennia old. More importantly, the emphasis on rice indicates the dominance of cereals in the diet. And rice was the preferred cereal. Many other forms of cereals did exist and used to supplement rice. These were mostly grown as highland crops in "chena' cultivations. Often when the rice crop failed due to inadequacy of water, it was the highland crops and roots and tubers that came to the rescue of man. Thus, it is clearer to state that starchy. foods with rice as the staple have formed the bulk of that diet, supplemented with vegetables, fruits and animal products. There have been periods of abundance as well as scarcity in food availability in the past. It is the state of the rice culture that has often been the indicator of either condition. Thus, , a periodic increase or decrease in total food intake may have been more a function of the availability of rice than the availability of other forms of food. This view need not overshadow some of the secular changes that have taken place due to introduction of certain other foodstuffs. Coconut is the classic example. Next to starchy foods, it is the consumption of coconut-both the kernel of the nut and oil extracted from it-that has met a substantial portion of the energy requirements of the average person. The effect of coconut consumption can be treated as complementary rather than substitutional.
メ
2. A form of shifting cultivation.

Page 9
What have been the effects of food grain imports on consumption patterns? The annual average of rice imports for the period 1900-1941 has been around 86 kilograms per capita, or an average supply of 860 calories per day. As observed earlier, apparent per capita consumption of rice during the postwar period (1950-1971) has been 97 kilograms per year or about 950 calories per day. If we assume that no significant change has occurred in the absolute level of per capita rice consumption during the post-independence period, it leads to the conclusion that more than 90 percent of the rice supply was obtained through imports in the earlier period. Conversely, domestic rice production accounted for. only 10 percent of the supply. Whether the domestic rice sector experienced such a decline may be reasonably doubted, when one considers the increase in area under paddy and the efforts that were taken to encourage domestic rice production. According to figures available, the area under paddy increased from 560,000 acres in 1871 to 800,000 acres in 1921 and further to 910,000 in 1946.3 In the absence of any reliable data on the ratio of land cultivated during the two cropping seasons and the average productivity, it needs a great deal of conjecture to arrive at a reasonable figure for output. The earliest information available on the acreage under paddy during the two seasons and the average yields per acre is in respect of the 1944/45 cultivation year, In this cultivation year, the total output from a sown area of 900 thousand acres was about 150 thousand tons of rice, giving a yield of 0.25 tons of paddy per acre. These figures cannot be used to represent the state of domestic paddy cultivation during the prewar period. Due to wartime food scarcities, concerted efforts were made to improve the domestic agricultural sector. Considerable attention was given to propaganda and demonstrations aimed at increasing paddy yields by encouraging improved planting methods, the use of manures and fertilizers and more appropriate
3. “ D. R. Snodgrass, Ceylon, an Export Economy in Transition, Illinois:
Richard D. Irwin Inc., 1966, p. 240. 4. C. E. Thorogood, Ceylon- Economic and Commercial Conditions in
Ceylon, London: H. M. S. O., 1952, p. 55 -

7
implements. The yields obtained were at least partly the result of these efforts. Furthermore, the correctness of the official estimates too can be doubted. For instance, in 1949, whereas the official estimates gave a yield of 0.3 tons of paddy per acre for the Yala season, a pilot survey during the same period found the average yield per acre to be 0.55 tons of paddy. A more objective basis would be to look at the starchy staple ratio in the average diet. It is reasonable to assume that no significant change may have occurred in the proportion of caloric intake from consumption of starchy food. Observations on the patterns of food consumption in the postwar period have revealed that nearly 60 percent of the total caloric intake has been through the consumption of starchy staples. More specifically, starchy staples have provided 1200 to 1300 calories per day in the average diet. When related to the earlier period, this suggests that 350 to 450 calories may have been consumed through starchy foods other than imported rice. It is difficult to be precise as to what combination of starchy food items-local rice, maize, millets and other grains, roots and tubers-accounted for the balance. It is likely that the (imported) rice trade was basically confined to the estate, urban and coastal areas in the country. Since paddy farming was essentially subsistence in character, most of the paddy, domestically produced may have been consumed in the areas of production. In this sense it is reasonable to assume that rice consumption in the rural, urban and estate sectors may have been considerably higher in the earlier period than in the postwar, years. . .
Substitute Carbohydrates
A significant repercussion of the wartime food scarcities was the entry of wheat flour into the national diet. It was not until the Japanese entry into war in December 1941 that rice imports were affected by the war situation. In fact, the absolute volume of rice imports increased by a small amount during the period 1939-1941. With the Japanese con-quest of Burma in 1942, the main source of rice imports was
5. Ibid.

Page 10
8
cut off and a rapid decline in imports ensued. Per capita imports which stood at 9 kilograms in 1941 dropped to 39 in 1942 and further to 17 kilograms in 1944. It was with great difficulty that rice was imported from India, Egypt and Brazil. Prior to this period the country had not imported any carbohydrate substitute to rice in any substantial quantity. Prewar wineat and wheat flour imports were almost negligible. During 1931-1941 per capita wheat imports amounted to a mere 3.5 kilograms per year.
With imports made available from Australia, wheat imports increased substantially to partially meet the shortages in food caused by the decreased rice imports. Per capita wheat and wheat flour imports rose to 11 kilograms in 1942 and maintained an average of about 4 kilograms per person up to 1946. In terms of caloric supplies, the contribution of wheat flour during the war period can be seen from Table 4. During the crucial years from 1942 to 1947, increased supply of wheat flour has been able to soften any serious impact decreased rice imports may have had on the food economy. The increased imports of cereals other than rice during the war period and its aftermath was not a phenomenon peculiar to Sri Lanka alone. In 1949, food deficit areas of the Far East imported 6.7 million tons of wheat and coarse grains as against 2.8 million tons of rice, whereas the prewar, net imports of these countries averaged 6.4 million tons of rice and 0.8 million tons of other cereals." Apart from increasing imports of substitute food grains, a series of measures were taken to increase domestic food production. Production of rice as well as other grains, roots and tubers was encouraged under the Government's “Grow More Food Campaign." Unfortunately, no production data are available to quantify the success of these efforts. It may have required a gigantic leap in food production to meet the food gap created by decreased imports during this period.
6, J. B. Kelegama, “Ceylon Economy in the War and Postwar Years,"
Ceylon Economist, May 1957.
7. FAO, Commodity Reports, Rice.

9
In 1948 a substantial increase in rice imports was registered and by 1950 imports were close to the prewar. level. The high level of rice imports was maintained ever since, except during the few years beginning in the late 1960s. Although imports had revived and domestic production expanded, demand too increased significantly due to the rapid increase in-population during the postwar period. Thus, it was necessary to continue the imports of wheat flour to meet the increased demand for foodgrains. Shown in Chart 2 is the average per capita daily supply of calories during the 21-year period from 1950. The cumulative totals of calories obtained from starchy staples are plotted to show the relative importance of carbohydrates in the average diet On the average, starchy staples have accounted for nearly 60 percent of the total caloric intake. A trend line fitted to the data on calories from starchy staples would vary very little from being horizontal. The overall importance of rice in the starchy staples and total
TABLE 4.
Sri Lanka: Per Capitá Supply of Calories Per Day from Rice and Wheat Flour Imports, 1938-1949
(calories per capita per day) -
Wheat Flour Rice Rice and Wheat Year Imports Imports. Flour Imports 1938 25 896 921 1939 35 988 1023 1940 31 922 953 1941 35 906 941 1942 172 390 562 1943 356 225 581 1944 473 177 650 1945 354 275 629 1946 311 378 689 1947 388 367 755 1948 216 566 782. 1949 196 533 . 729
Sources: J. B. Kelegama, “Ceylon Economy in the War and Post-War II Years' Ceylon Economist, May 1957; and Sri Lanka, Department of Census and Statistics, Statistical Abstracts.

Page 11
10
food is clearly brought about in the chart. Of particular importance is the decreasing trend in per capita rice imports. It is clear that the growth in domestic production has been able to absorb much of the increased demand for rice growing out of the expansion in population. In particular, during the late 1950s nearly 70 percent of the rice supply has been from domestic production.
Wheat flour is the second largest component in the starchy staples. The magnitude of the contribution from other starchy foods (maize, millets, manioc and all other starchy foods) is almost constant throughout the period. Thus the near consistency in the absolute level of calories from starchy staples has been made possible by changes in wheat flour imports. The price spread between wheat and rice and the relatively more abundant availability of the former in the international market have facilitated the continuation of wheat imports in substantial quantities. Plotted in Chart 3 are the index points of the (landed) cost ratio between rice and wheat flour. It appears that often when the price advantage was toward wheat, rice and wheat flour have been imported in a ratio of about two to one. With the reduction in the quantity of rice issued under the rationing scheme in 1967, rice imports have declined sharply. But wheat flour imports have increased substantially to account for a larger proportion of cereafs supplied through imports. Beginning in the early 1970s, the supply situation in both rice and wheat has been tight in the international market, forcing the world price of wheat to increase in line with increase in riče prices.8
The entry of wheat flour into the the national diet was certainly not an easy process because of the general consideration of it as an inferior food. “A meal which is not basically. rice is not considered a real meal, and the test of abject poverty is the absence of at least ofe rice meal during the day.'9 Presumably then the common place of wheat flour has to be in the diet of those in the lower
8. J. N. Efferson, The Current Rice Marketing Situation in Sri Lanka
(Report to the Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Colombo, 1973).
9. T. Jogaratnam and T.T. Poleman, 1969, Op. cit, p. 37.

CHART 2. SRI LANKA : PER CAPTA DALY SUPPLY OF
CALORES, 195O - 97 *
25OO
TOTAL CALORES
95O ' ' .955 96.O 965 - -
Yeof
CHART 3. SRANKA: INDEXOf RCE/WHEAT FLOUR COST
SO RATO, 195Ο- 197O ( 1946 - 49 = OO) *
瞿上
’吕 小
် too
ィー
60 س--ق مستقسسقسمجھ لس به سه به کسبهl f قـ.قسسط -
950 955 96 ܝ.O 1965 197Ο
Year ܫ Source: Department of Census and Statistics, Statistical Abstracts T. Jogaratnam and T. T. Poleman, Food in the Economy of Ceylon (Cornell International Agriculture 器器
FAO, Food Balance sheets (Rome, 1955). Central Bank of Ceylon, Annual Reports.

Page 12
  

Page 13
14
Expenditure Patterns
Based on the findings of the Survey, the consumption behavior of the households in relation to income is plotted in Chart 4.12 Almost universally observed income-expenditure relationships have revealed that the proportion of the income spent on food declines as incomes increase. The overall picture in Chart 4 suggests the existence of the Engel relationship but with restricted magnitudes for a major portion of the income range. Food expenditures range from about 64 percent in the lowest income class to about 33 percent in the highest. 13 What S striking, however, is the fact that expenditure on food continues to remain over 50 percent of the total outlay until the Rs. 600-800 class and that accounts for about 92 percent of the total households. The high proportion of the food expenditure that persists through a large range of incomes is explainable by the increasing size of households as shown in Chart 4. At the sector level no marked variation from the average pattern of expenditure is seen. The average domestic expenditure patterns revealed by the surveys in 1953 and 1963 showed expenditure on food to be 59.9 and 56.2 percent respectively. Though the results of these surveys are not strictly comparable, they point to the fact that a high rate of expenditure on food has persisted over time.
The starchy staple ratio-the ratio of calories from cereals, starchy fruits, roots and tubers to total calories consumed-which stands at a 55 percent average for all person, ranges from only 56 percent in the lowest income class to 58 in the Rs. 600-800 class. Only in the highest class, two percent of the population, does it fall below 50 to 48 percent. Chart 5 shows the relative
12. The presently available Preliminary Report on the Socio-economic Survey 1969/70 gives only findings in relation to the first two rgunds of the survey. Results of all four rounds are used in the analysis on “The Effects of Income on Food Habits in Ceylon, by L. N. Perera, et al., in Marga, Volume 2, No. 1, 1973. Accordingly, this chart and some other references to the Socio-economic Survey, elsewhere are obtained from this source.
3. L. N. Perera, et al., “The effects of Income on Food Habits in Ceylon: the Findings of the Socio-Economic Survey,' Marga, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1973, p. 89. w
14. L. N. Pereia, et al., op. eit., p. 93.

əųL : uoTĀao uț 844 qaHPooŁuo əwoouI wo sɔɔə ŋɔ ɔɖL, *7īēTTā ostazał on • t3 Əɔɔmos ( uJuow uəd səədnu) aujoɔul prouesnog· - 9021 002f 0011 0001 OO6 OO8 oog oog oogOOo Oog oo2 oo Ź†FHHH||H༈IIș––– *31v1$3 ------------«• Q ー・も , ' áosoɛɛfɑ