Minister of Agriculture K.D. Lal Kantha says he will not hold back from pointing out shortcomings in the state sector, even if doing so costs the government votes.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday (2) after attending the start of renovation work on the Ilwatta Anicut, built across the Polathumodara River at Welipitiya in Matara, the minister said confronting those problems was essential if the country was to reach what he called a transformative era.
The government and the state sector had to move forward together during a period of economic transformation, he said, warning that delays inside the state service could hold back the country’s progress.
“Even if the government can move at a speed of 200 kilometres per hour, if the state sector moves at only 60 kilometres per hour, development will be delayed,” Lal Kantha said.
He said the state sector continued to face several structural problems, among them a shortage of officers, inadequate facilities and long delays in recruitment.
Pay and productivity
The minister said the government had raised public sector salaries after taking office and that further increases were expected in the forthcoming budget.
Turning to his own portfolio, Lal Kantha said Sri Lanka had to lift productivity and modernise agriculture to achieve economic development. He noted that farmers in areas such as the Walawe Mahaweli Zone and Ampara were achieving higher yields per acre, while those with lower productivity faced greater difficulty because of production costs.
The productivity point echoes the ministry’s own Yala season costing published in late July, which put the cost of producing a kilogram of paddy at between Rs. 76 and Rs. 119 depending on the district and method used.
Lal Kantha said shortcomings in the state sector had to be addressed despite the possible political consequences, arguing that avoiding them would stop the country achieving meaningful change.
