Zero Energy Cooling Chamber to preserve Fruits and Veggies introduced by CSIAP

Mr. Stephen Danyo and the World Bank team looking at ZECC intently on the left and Farm Manager   Mr. K. Keerthihan explaining the ZECC on the right

A Zero Energy Cooling Chamber (ZECC) is a small chamber made out of materials like brick, sand, cement and gunny bag etc where farmers can store freshly harvested produce. The ZECC works on evaporative cooling principles that can be used to provide a cool environment.

The ZECC an alternative of the common refrigerator. This is an on-farm storage chamber for fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers to extend their marketability. Storage of fresh horticultural produce after harvest is one of the most pressing problems of a tropical country like Sri Lanka. Due to high moisture content in the country, fruits and vegetables have very short life and are liable to spoil.

The ZECC can be constructed easily too. The chamber can keep the temperature lower than the outside temperature and maintain about 90% relative humidity. The ZECC would be ideal to use in the dry zone where the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) is being implemented. The project is taking initiatives to introduce ZECC in its project area. The major advantage of cool chamber storage was the maintenance of fruits and Vegetables’ firmness by lowering the physiological loss in weight (PLW) and other metabolic processes. Eventually, 3 to 5 days more shelf life of fruits and vegetables could be obtained in cool chamber storage. 

Mr. Stephen Danyo, Sector Leader for Sustainable Development with Mr. S. Manoharan, Senior Consultant (Agriculture, Food & Rural Development), Dr. Athula Senaratne, Senior Agriculture Specialist & Kanishka Balasuriya, Consultant at the World Bank visited recently to the District Agriculture Training Center At Oddusudan, Mullaitivu to explore activities of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) and Mr. Danyo was very much interested in ZECC too.

Please watch videos about ZECC in Sinhalese and Tamil

The IRLTP with US$ 1bn will be in 2022 with key lessons learned from the CSIAP

The Sector Leader for Sustainable Development Mr. Stephen Danyo addressing government officials

 The Integrated Rural Livelihood Transformation Project (IRLTP) is being formulated to accommodate the government priorities focusing rapid economic revival of Sri Lanka. The proposed project aims to restore and develop livelihoods in underserved rural areas in up to 25 Districts and to be implemented through the District Secretariats as the government has taken an initiative to have a comprehensive approach on rural development through district implementation mechanism, the World Bank sources said. This project, that costs US $ 01 billion, would include activities related to restoring/rehabilitation/protection of productive rural assets, consolidation of rural livelihoods, rural enterprise development etc, a senior official of the World Bank expressed.

The IRLTP will be implemented in Sri Lanka with key lessons learned from the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP), which began in 2019  with the World Bank financing facility of US  $ 110m to improve productivity and climate resilience of smallholder agriculture in Sri Lanka, is designed to be implemented in six provinces of the dry zone covering 258 Grama Niladhari Divisions of in pre-identified hot spot areas -which are highly vulnerable to climate variations in 11 districts namely Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Kilinochchi, Mutative, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Monaragala and Hambantota, a senior official of the World Bank further added. 

Discussion between the World Bank team and Government Officials

The Department of National Planning (DNP) jointly with line agencies has developed and submitted a concept for this development programme and it is presently been reviewed by the World Bank which wishes to have a series of consultations at the district level to consolidate

Since the proposed implementation mechanism is a novel concept for the World Bank, a number of discussions have been arranged to make them aware of the main functions of the District Secretariats and Divisional Secretariats in terms of development planning and implementation process. Accordingly, Mr. Stephen Danyo, Sector Leader for Sustainable Development with Mr. S. Manoharan, Senior Consultant (Agriculture, Food & Rural Development), Dr. Athula Senaratne, Senior Agriculture Specialist & Kanishka Balasuriya, Consultant at the World Bank, arrived in District Secretariate, Mullaitivu on 20th this month for a district-level discussion, that was chaired by Mr. K. Vimalanathan, District Secretary, Mullaitivu  to have constructive dialogue on the planning process, with the key officers including Divisional Secretaries, Planning Directors, District Heads of relevant Departments such as Irrigation, Agriculture, Agrarian Development, Livestock and Dairy Development, Fisheries, Local Government, Rural Development, Forestry, Wildlife, Project Directors of ongoing projects.

This discussion gave the World Bank team to get more understanding of district/ divisional secretariat level contribution for project identification, formulation and implementation and monitoring mechanisms.

Sector Leader for Sustainable Development at the WB visits the CSIAP's area in NP

Sector Leader was interested in knowing organic fertilizer production

Mr. Stephen Danyo, Sector Leader for Sustainable Development at The World Bank arrived in Oddusudan, Mullaitivu this afternoon (20^th) to inspect activities of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) in the Northern Province. He visited the District Agriculture Training Center in Oddusudan which conducts a number of agricultural programmes on its premises in collaboration with the CSIAP.

Mr. S. Manoharan, Senior Consultant (Agriculture, Food & Rural Development), Dr. Athula Senaratne, Senior Agriculture Specialist & Kanishka Balasuriya, Consultant at the World Bank, Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, Mr. George Chandra Babu, Deputy Project Director- Northern Province & Specialists & other staff of the CSIAP, Mr. Kirubakaran Keerthihan, Farm Manager of the District Agriculture Training Center and farmers were also present.

Please watch the Video Clip of his tour in Northern Province.

The CSIAP hands over farm machinery worth Rs. 65.81 to DAD to support farmers

The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) handed a range of farm machinery worth Rs. 65.81 Mn over to the Department of Agrarian Development (DAD) to support farmers in the hot spot area where the CSIAP is being implemented. The CSIAP’s Project Director Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna handed over the machinery to Hon. Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Minister of Agriculture, secondly the minister handed them over to Mr. A. H. M. L. Abeyrathna, Commissioner General of the DAD. The event took place at the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Minister of Agriculture warmly welcomes the support from the CSIAP in procuring this essential farm machinery, which will go a long way in assisting farmers who may need to use them in their field. The machinery, totalling 194 individual items, includes 189 Lowland Power Seeders, 04 Paddy Combined Harvesters and one Tractor. The top officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, DAD and CSIAP attended this ceremony.                  Please see more images of the event.

The CSIAP aims to mitigate Human-Elephant Conflicts in its project area

Results of Human Elephant Comflicts

Human-Elephant Conflict(HEL) reached record heights in Sri Lanka with the death of 121 people and 405 elephants in 2019. At present Sri Lanka records the highest human-elephant conflict in the world. For over 70 years, human-elephant conflict mitigation in Sri Lanka has been based on attempting to confine elephants to protected areas. This effort has completely failed and currently, 70% of elephant range remains outside protected areas. With elephants and people residing in the same landscape over 44% of the land area of Sri Lanka, human-elephant conflict is a problem faced by the vast majority of farming communities in the dry zone. Today HEC is a major conservation, socio-economic and political issue in the country.

Attempts to confine all elephants to protected areas have failed because it is biologically impossible, as the protected areas already carry the number of elephants they can support. Thus, successful human-elephant conflict mitigation requires that people, their crops and property be effectively safeguarded from elephant depredation. Traditional crop guarding and management methods such as chasing and driving elephants are confrontational. Hence, make elephants aggressive towards humans, leading to escalation of conflict. Therefore, it is critical to use non-confrontational methods in preventing elephant depredation. 

Erecting a sesional cultivation fence

Community-based electric fencing is the most effective non-confrontational method of protecting crops, home gardens and settlements. Community-based fences are entirely constructed and maintained by people who face elephant depredation and provide immediate and sustainable relief to them. 

Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando

The appropriate model of community-based electric fencing for seasonal agriculture such as paddy fields are ‘seasonal-fences’. They are constructed by farmers when they start the cultivation, removed at harvest and stored till the next cultivation season. The method has been developed by the Centre for Conservation and Research (CCR) and piloted in over 40 paddy fields in the Kurunegala, Hambanthota, Anuradhapura and Trincomalee districts. Some of these pilot fences have been in use for periods of up to 12 years and have proved the effectiveness and sustainability of the method. Therefore, the next step is to broad-base the implementation of this approach. 

The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) is working with CCR to broad base and implement seasonal paddy-field fences through the Department of Agrarian Development. This initiative is expected to bring much needed relief to paddy-farmers from elephant depredation. The CSIAP is planning to facilitate the farmers to protect their crops, harvest and farmlands from wild elephants and to safeguard lives of both humans and animals.

By Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando, Chairman, Trustee and Scientist, CCR, Sri Lanka. Images: curtesy  of CCR

The CSIAP takes initiatives to erect community based seasonal cultivation fences

 The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP)  is having a special discussion to erect seasonal cultivation fences to mitigate Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) with the top officials of the World Bank, Department of Agrarian Development and Center for conservation and Research at the Irrigation Training Institute at Galgamuwa. 

The community-based seasonal cultivation fences prevent elephants from entering and causing irreparable damages to human settlements and cultivations. The human-elephant conflict poses major threats to the well-being of both humans and animals. Crop-raiding by elephants across agricultural areas in Sri Lanka including the hot spot areas where the CSIAP is being implemented can be devastating for small farmers, leading to food insecurity, lost opportunity costs, and even death. Crop-raiding and property damage can also result in negative attitudes towards elephant conservation and retaliatory killings of elephants. 

Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando, Chairman, Trustee and Scientist of  CCR, Sri Lanka delivered presentation on  importance of erecting a sessional cultivation fence to mitigate HEC. Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya, Elephant Ethologist and former Director General of Wildlife Conservation, Sri Lanka, Mr. A. H. M. L. Abeyrathna, Commissioner General of the Department of Agrarian Development,  Nadeera Rajapaksha, Environmental Specials of the World Bank and Dr. Janaka Jayawardena, Environmental & Social Safeguard Specialist delivered speeches on the same subject.

Mr. S. Manoharan, Senior Consultant (Agriculture, Food & Rural Development) & Dr. Athula Senaratne, Senior Agriculture Specialist of the World Bank, Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, Deputy Project Directors & Specialists of the CSIAP, and top officials of implementing agencies were present at the discussion.

Please see more images of the discussion.

“Carry out CSIAP’s activities aiming at SL’s development” the Sec. of Agriculture

Dr. Weerasinghe presents the CSIAP's activities while the Secretary and the Project Director look on

The CSIAP should focus on improving the livelihood of the farm community which leads to the betterment of the country, said Mr. D.M.L.D. Bandaranayake, the Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, in a special discussion with staff held at the Project Management Unit (PMU) of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) this morning (04). 

The newly appointed Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture visited PMU to find the CSIAP’s activities out and he was warmly welcomed by the Project Director Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna with the CSIAP staff. Deputy Project Director Dr. Priyantha Weerasinghe explained what CSIAP is, its activities and current status to Mr. Bandaranayake

In order to do this, we have to take initiatives to change the mindset of farmers and involve farmers in the development processes formally, the Secretary further added.  Continue the CSIAP’s activities in a manner that benefits farmers. It is everyone’s responsibility to dedicate themselves to achieving project activities. For this, I will give my fullest support Mr. Bandaranayake expressed.

“Radiance for Village” is a documentary that shows activities of the CSIAP

“Radiance for Village” a documentary that shows activities of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP).
Please click Radiance for Village to watch.

The CSIAP will take the country to the new height of agricultural development

 Today (03rd) is the very first working day for the staff on the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP). The staff of the CSIAP celebrated the commencement of work for the New Year 2022 with a small celebration in this morning. The event included a speech from the Project Director Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna and having Kiribath (Milk Rice) with other sweetmeats.

We have to take the country to the new height of agricultural development via the CSIAP that's why we have to work as a team to reach targets in 2022, Project Director Eng. Rajakaruna said. Our dedication should not be limited to us, but it should be related to the way forward of the CSIAP. Our contribution will open avenues to the progress of agriculture and for this, we have to start from today itself without wasting any moment and particle, he further added.

The project Director expressed his gratitude to the entire project staff for their firm commitments given to continue the project activities during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis that has dealt a significant shock to Sri Lanka’s economy and people.