As a result urbanization that creeps into even the remotest of areas in the country, traditional forms of farming are gradually dying out. The lack of attention and assistance by the government to preserve these sites has also contributed to this situation.
Uva Province, which was once regarded as the granary of the country, the land of a one hundred thousand paddy fields termed “Wellassa” in Sinhala is one of the most prestigious sites Sri Lankans are proud about. It is sad that there are almost no paddy fields in this area at present as urbanization has successfully invaded these areas.
Despite the inevitable lifestyle change and modernization that has crept in, there are farmers who are still keen on continuing to cultivate and keep on engaging in harvesting the paddy fields.
The lack of a proper water supply has forced many of the farmers to give up on farming and do odd jobs but in the village of Viyadiguna in the area of Vinithagama, there are about 50 such families that engage in farming. The Webadda tank which provides water to the farmers to cultivate, has been in poor condition and been neglected for many years. It is filled with silt and is in need of urgent rehabilitation.
Those eager to continue with farming despite the hardships have made numerous appeals to politicians which have fallen on deaf ears. Hence, they chose to use the Right to Information (RTI) Act to draw attention to this problem. They were supported by a group of youth in the area. The youth have learnt about RTI through a workshop conducted by SLPI which was financially supported by USAID-SDGAP programme..
Accordingly the residents made an application to the Uva Province Agriculture Department seeking information about the tank rehabilitation and requested to know why the tank had been in such a bad condition for so long. . However, their application did not yield any positive results as the Department wrote back to them saying that they could not provide information regarding the inquiry within the stipulated time.
An RTI application was also sent to the Information Officer of the Irrigation Department for which they are still awaiting a response. The farmers are hopeful that the RTI application will draw attention to their problem and the Irrigation Department will act promptly.
The youth who were involved in filing the RTI application say that RTI has give hope to them. Unlike in the yesteryears where their parents had to go behind public officials to get work done, they can now question and even follow up on the progress of the work that is being carried out by the public authorities.
This update was prepared by participants of the Information and Communication Training Workshop conducted by the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) through a grant funded by the United States Agency for International Development through the Strengthening Democratic Governance and Accountability Project Activity.
“The contents of this post are the sole responsibility of SLPI and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.”
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