First Wholesale Vegetable & Fruit Price Display at Cargills Fresh Produce Collection Centre in Thanamalwila Empowers Small Scale Farmers

31st March 2013, www.nation.lk

Cargills food Sri Lanka’s leading supermarket chain has launched its first vegetable and fruit wholesale price display terminal at its fresh produce collection centre in Thanamalwila. The terminal was ceremonially declared open by the minister of Coconut Development, Jagath Pushpakumara last week.

The launch of the wholesale price terminal further reiterates the commitment of Cargills towards the empowerment of small scale farmers. “Cargills continues to offer the prices above the wholesale market to farmers along with technical inputs training and marketing information while facilitating credit. Through our retail chain and our group’s manufacturing facilities we have created a revolutionary shift in taking the market to the farmers. Today with this launch of the price terminal we have taken a step further by providing market intelligence for the farmers” said the Chief operating officer-retail, Cargills (Ceylon) PLC, Sidath Kodikara. He added the price terminals would be launched at all collection centers under the group including Jaffna, Nuwara Eliya and Bandarawela.

Cargills had during the year concluded collected over 3,800 metric tons of fruits and vegetables from the Gangeyaya community in Thanamalwila to the value of Rs 238m. The ceremonial launch of the Cargills wholesale price terminal was held alongside the distribution of Rs 1.9m worth of benefits to the farmer community as part of Cargills farmer community development fund established in Gangeyaya, Thanamalwila.

Over 40 scholarships were awarded to students who have passed Grade 5 scholarship exams and those pursuing Advanced Level and External Degrees, and five laptops were awarded to students from the area pursuing University education. 54 students who are from families facing economic challenges were also granted learning material while a further 15 farmers who have made the highest contribution towards fresh produce collection from area were given farming equipment. In addition a resting shelter and 100 chairs were donated to the farmer society while plastic crates for post-harvest transportation were distributed among 30 farmers along with the launch of the wholesale price display terminal.

Cargills Food City also provided HNB Assuarance farmer insurance schemes for 137 farmers free of charge. The scheme covers farmers’ death, disability and permanent disability as well as healthcare benefits. This disbursement of benefits comes as part of the annual community development initiative planned by Cargills together with the farmer community and World Vision Lanka.

Explaining the project, Deputy General Manager of Agri Business for Cargills, Haridas Fernando said, “Every time Cargills buy a kilogram of vegetables from the farming community in Gangeyaya, 50 cent goes back to the community development fund. Annually the funds are utilized for scholarships and projects that would develop the quality of life of the farmer community”.

General Manager, Retail operations of Cargills, Keerthi Gunasekara added “We have developed a similar fund at our collection centers in Jaffna and Moneragala with plans to expand the concept to all farmer communities we work with. The funds provide scholarships for needy children from the community, resources for learning and advancement and even meet basic community infrastructure needs such as utility connections, community centers and libraries etc. Our focus is to engage the communities that work with us to charter their own course of development”.

Speaking to The Nation a farmer from Gangeyaya, D.G. Nandasena stated, “We are gaining lot of advantages and it’s very convenient to sell vegetables to Cargills. Even today I brought 500kgs of vegetables to the center. The only problem we face is that the transportation as the bridge we use is n a dilapidated state. We have come through a different route after gaining permission from the Wild Life Department as the road passes through thick jungle and also dangerous. It will be a great help if the authorities take steps to reconstruct the bridge as early as possible which will also save lot of time in transporting our produce.

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Sri Lanka Tea Sees Strong Demand from Consuming Countries

17th July 2010, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Sri Lankan tea prices are likely to stay strong on good demand from consuming countries and possible shortages caused by disruption of production at key origins like India, officials said.

India's tea industry is reportedly worried about crop loss due to heavy showers in June and a pest attack.

Production in Assam, a key Indian tea growing region, is expected to have dropped in June compared to the previous year, with reduced arrivals at the Guwahati and Kolkata auctions pushing up prices of quality teas.

Sri Lankan tea industry officials said if the crop loss in India was serious, if could result in more demand for certain types of Ceylon teas at the Colombo auctions.

Although Sri Lankan tea prices are high they are below the highs seen last year when lower crops in key origins created a global shortage of tea and pushed up prices.

"If Indian tea production drops it could be a reason for increased demand at the Colombo auctions," said H D Hemaratna, director general of the Sri Lanka Tea Board.

He said that going by previous experience, if India diverts tea from exports for local consumption the vacuum has usually been filled not by Kenya but Sri Lanka.

Any drop in the crop in India, a big exporter, would affect global supply of tea, he added.

Tea Exporters Association chairman Jayantha Keragala said Sri Lankan tea prices were attractive right now.

"At the moment we're enjoying very good prices for good teas and the 'below best' and 'bottom' teas as well," he said.

"One reason for high prices is demand ahead of Ramazan in August. Buying for the winter will start from there onwards."

He said a crop loss in Assam could push up prices for CTC type teas which are used in tea bags.

"There won't be a significant change in demand but definitely there will be an impact on CTC teas which have gone up at this week's auction by about 15-20 dollar cents. So there's a slight change there."

He said good Sri Lankan teas still enjoy high prices and are expected to continue to do so.

Tea industry officials in India have said heavy rains prevented the application of pesticides to control pest attacks as well as fertiliser to boost yields.