Associated Press,  Fri Jan 12 08:46:27 EST 2007

    COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) _ At least 13 people were killed in landslides in the tea growing region of central Sri Lanka on Friday, officials said, as bad weather was delaying rescue and relief.

The military listed 13 dead in its Web site, adding that 450 homes have been affected, leaving 5,000 residents without shelter.

Full Story


_________________
- The Academic

How many of these landslides were caused by the replacement of tea plantations with potato or other vegetable cultivation. In Ratnapura the main cause of increased death from landslides is illicit forest clearing for gem mining.

Many natural disasters are man-made.

This is the high time that millions worth valuable research put into use.  Sri Lanka needs to be pro-active far as possible. Internationally recognised research can be used with a proper
system, that can save tens and thousands of valuable human life.

Stephen Jones wrote:

How many of these landslides were caused by the replacement of tea plantations with potato or other vegetable cultivation. In Ratnapura the main cause of increased death from landslides is illicit forest clearing for gem mining.

Many natural disasters are man-made.

another dissaster due to selfish motivated economic activity. If anybody calls sl is a paradise or a beautiful country then they need to re-assess their view. SL is a country with full of ecological mines both under and over the surface.

From today's Daily News

Vegetable and paddy cultivations have been damaged in Nuwara Eliya, Hambantota and Ampara districts, Agrarian Services and Farmer Community Development Minister S.M.Chandrasena told the Daily News yesterday. According to Minister Chandrasena, vegetable and paddy cultivations in Nuwara Eliya and Hambantota districts have been worst affected by landslides and floods.

"The statistics received so far have revealed that nearly 3,000 acres of paddy lands in Hambantota district, 1,000 acres of vegetable cultivation in Nuwara Eliya district and another 1,500 acres of paddy lands in Lahugala, Paanama and Pottuvil coming under the purview of the Amapara district have been destroyed."
http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/01/17/news15.asp

This is no coincidence. The hill district is totally unsuitable for vegetable cultivation; apart from the fact that it is economic nonsense, only made viable by restricting imports, the stripping of the tree cover on slopes at that altitude will necessarily cause erosion and landslides. Coffee bushes hold the soil together, and tea bushes appear to have the same effect. The only other sensible alternative is reforestation. Even terraced based paddy cultivation is probably not viable at that altitude, and it certainly is not economic.

To force the consumer to pay exorbitant prices for vegetables through import restrictions in order to keep totally uneconomic cultivations in business is bad enough; when these uneconomic cultivations are an ecological disaster it is even worse; when the government then pays out money to the cultivations to compensate for the ecological disaster they have brought on themselves, and  thus encourages them to continue, we have total lunacy.

Stephen Jones wrote:

From today's Daily News

Vegetable and paddy cultivations have been damaged in Nuwara Eliya, Hambantota and Ampara districts, Agrarian Services and Farmer Community Development Minister S.M.Chandrasena told the Daily News yesterday. According to Minister Chandrasena, vegetable and paddy cultivations in Nuwara Eliya and Hambantota districts have been worst affected by landslides and floods.

"The statistics received so far have revealed that nearly 3,000 acres of paddy lands in Hambantota district, 1,000 acres of vegetable cultivation in Nuwara Eliya district and another 1,500 acres of paddy lands in Lahugala, Paanama and Pottuvil coming under the purview of the Amapara district have been destroyed."
http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/01/17/news15.asp

This is no coincidence. The hill district is totally unsuitable for vegetable cultivation; apart from the fact that it is economic nonsense, only made viable by restricting imports, the stripping of the tree cover on slopes at that altitude will necessarily cause erosion and landslides. Coffee bushes hold the soil together, and tea bushes appear to have the same effect. The only other sensible alternative is reforestation. Even terraced based paddy cultivation is probably not viable at that altitude, and it certainly is not economic.

To force the consumer to pay exorbitant prices for vegetables through import restrictions in order to keep totally uneconomic cultivations in business is bad enough; when these uneconomic cultivations are an ecological disaster it is even worse; when the government then pays out money to the cultivations to compensate for the ecological disaster they have brought on themselves, and  thus encourages them to continue, we have total lunacy.

At least government can introduce some conservation strategies such as no plowing/harrowing or leaving land without doing anything.... To do this government may need to compensate or encourage farmers for such production systems if SJ,s recommendation is not feasible. I am not familiar with lankan upcountry, and i wonder why you can't build permanent drainage system in those areas. I know it is difficult to make proper drainage systems since the landscape is an obstacle. but you can atleast reduce the damage if you can do that where you can. isn't it?

Potatoes, carrots and probably cabbage require cool temperatures. That is why they are grown upland. The problem is however twofold.

First commercial vegetable growing on hill country is uneconomical. Potatoes are normally grown on large tracts of flat land (think large automated farms in East Anglia for example). This means they can be planted and harvested easily using mechanical means. The price of a kilo of potatoes in Lanka is over 60Rs, higher than in Saudi Arabia which doesn't grow any at all. There are companies that buy potatoes from India, ship them to Singapore, and then ship them from Singapore to Lanka to take advantage of trade agreements, and these potatoes are still a lot cheaper than those grown locally.

The second problem, and the really big problem, is that potatoes and other vegetables strip the land of cover. On flat land that is not a significant problem but on hill slopes it is a disaster, and even rice terracing is ecologically precarious. Coffee, and even tea bushes, hold the soil in place. At lower elevations traditional tree gardens do the same.

What makes the problem worse still is that the vegetable farmer has no incentive to conserve the land. He rents the land from tea estates, or directly from the government, and if the land is unuseable after his short-term lease runs out it is no skin off his nose. It is a combination of short term commercial gain and political expediency, and the result has already been seen.

The clearest example of the nefarious effects of forest clearing is seen in Haiti, which has gone from being the richest country in the world 200 years ago to the poorest. The hills are completely bare. On the other half of the island, in the Domican Republic, the long-term dictator, Balaguer, was a firm ecologist, and encouraged conservation and reforestation from the 1930s onwards. The result can be seen from satellite photographs, and of course the Dominican Republic is now much less poor than Haiti.

In 1925, Haiti was a lush tropical paradise, with 60% of its original forest covering the lands and mountainous regions. Since then, the population has cut down all but 2% of its forest cover, and in the process has destroyed fertile farmland soils while contributing to desertification. Erosion has been severe in the mountainous areas. Pictures from space glaringly show the stark difference in forestation between Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic. Most Haitian logging is done to produce charcoal, the country's chief source of fuel. The plight of Haiti's forests has attracted international attention and has led to numerous reforestation efforts, but these have met with little success to date.

In addition to soil erosion, the deforestation has also caused periodic flooding, as seen on September 17, 2004. Tropical storm Jeanne skimmed the north coast of Haiti leaving 3,006 people dead in flooding and mudslides, mostly in the city of Gonaïves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiti