Securing the Food Supply and Food Security of the Ruhuna Basin K. D. N. Weerasinghe\ Ananda Jayasinghe2 and A. M. H. Abeysinghe3 1. Geographical Informations of the Ruhuha Basins Ruhuna basin situates in southern Sri Lanka totaling 5578 sq krn. It has four major river basins viz: Walawe Ganga, Kirindi Oya, Malala Oya and Menik Ganga. There are 3 Agro-ecological zones in the Ruhuna Basin namely Wet, Wet Intermediate and Dry Intermediate zones. Major River Basins of the Ruhuna basin and their catchments are given in the table 1 and figure 1. Table 1. Major river basins and catchments. Name Catchment's area (Km2) 1. Walawe Ganga 2471 2. Kiridi Oya 1165 3. Menik Ganga 1287 4. Malala Oya 402 5. Other 235 Total 5578 Palitha et aI, 1999) Total area of the Ruhuna Basin is c0vered by catchments of Walawe Ganga, Kirindi Oya, Malala Oya, Manik Ganga and number of small catchments. Detailed map of the river basins in the Hambantota District as documented by J. L. Sabatier (2001), is given in the figure 1. There are 19 river basins in the district and out of which 10 river basins are included in to the Ruhuna basin, except, Seenimodera, Kirama, Rekawa,Urubokke Oya, in the west and Katupila Ara, Kurundu Ara, Nemadegan Ara, Karambe Ara, and Kumbukkan Oya in the east (Figure 1). Further more as pointed out by Arumugam (1969), most of these basins are small and they do not make any effective contribution to the water resources. Malala Oya basin has a catchment of 404 sq. km. However much of the run off from the catchment is very likely to lost in percolation en route as the sea outfall of the Oya is connected to Malala Lewaya. 1 Prof. of Agric. Engineering and Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, Mapalana, Kamburupitiya. 2 Add. Director, Agronomy, Irrigation Management Division, Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Management and Member of the Study Team. 3 Research Assistant, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, Mapalana, Kamburupitiya. 109 Figure 1. River network, Hambantota District. District d'Hambantota : reseau hydrographique I. Seenimodara ara 10. Kirindioya 2. Kirama oya II. Barnbarawa an 3. Rekawa oya 12. Mahaseel:awa OJ 4. Urubollioya 13. BUlliW6 oya 5. Kacbchigalara 14. Mcoik ganga 6. Walawe ganga 15. Katupila ata 7. KaragllOOya 16. Kurunde ata 8. Malala all!. 17. Ncrnadagas 9. Kirindioya 18. K.arambe IIIlI 19. Kumbukkan o 10 20 30 40 50 ~1______~j~.______~!________LI______~______~1 en 1.1 Major Administrative Districts ofthe Ruhuna Basins There are five administrative Districts and 21 divisional secretariat divisions in the Ruhuna Basin. Distribution of the Divisional secretariat divisions of the basin is illustrated in the figure 2. As indicated in the table 2, only 34.6 % of the land extent in the different administrative Districts contributes to the Ruhuna Basin. Table 2. Agro-ecological zones and Administrative Districts. Area of the Administrative Total area of the Percentage of the districts Climatic Zones Ruhuna Basin District District occupied by the basin Wet zone Nuwra 1741 46.97 2.7 Wet intermediate Badulla 2861 548.56 19.17 Ratnapura 3275 1256.62 38.37 Dry intermediate Monaragala 5639 2270.81 40.26 Hambantota 2609 1454.5 55.7 Total 16125 5577.46 34.6 llO Figure 2. Administrative Districts and divisional secretariats ofthe Ruhuna Basins. IIUWAI!A£LIVA Aid SP.IlGAldUINA (OAA•• OIlAIIJ\GALA • Badulla • Ratnapura • Nuwara EJiya t(A LAIN AliA Ildioya lDaraWa llTa llISeelawa oya awaoya Ruhuana Basin including Dik ganga Divisional secratariate s .upila llTa TAIiGAUi rundeara madagas ara rambeara Imbukkan oya 1.2 Socio Economic indicators ofthe Ruhuna Basins Index Ruhuna Basins Colombo District Human Poverty index 25.5 13.02 Human development index 0.733 0.847 GDP per capita 7369.1 14545 Infant mortality (Per 1000 live births) 14.69 21.3 lasin. Maternal mortality (Per 1000 live births) 0.284 0.1 2. As Life expecting index 0.906 0.783 otricts Income index 0.614 0.693 Population without access to safe water % 45.01 4.089 Population lacking access to safe sanitation % 28.69 5.19 Unemployment rate (Male) 6.97 14.6 Unemployment rate (female) 24.47 20.3 Literacy rate 55.25 94 listricts (Source: REAP Annual performances report, 2001) basin 2. Food Productions and Consumption in the Rununa Basins 2.1 Area ofCultivation Major Agricultural crops cultivated in the Ruhuna basins and the area occupied by them are given ------ in table 3. III Table 3. Major crops and the extent ofcultivation. ---<-----­ Crop area (ha) Rice 83950 Tea 22500 Rubber 1000 Coconut 4lO00 MEC's 5100 Home garden 42950 Sugarcane 1500 Tobaco 1200 Total 199200 -<----­ ---­ (Source: Water Resource inventory study for Southern area of Sri Lanka, 1995) A major annual crop cultivated in the Ruhuna Basin is the rice. Home gardens and coconut cultivation are second major crops. Tea, Rubber and Sugarcane occupy the remaining cultivated lands. 2.2 Paddy production and availability in the Ruhuna Basin to meet the energy requirement ofthe population The main staple food of the Sri Lankan recipe is rice. In Southern Sri Lanka people use to have three meals of rice per day. Per day consumption of rice by an average person in Sri Lanka should be 120 g for the break fast, 200 g for the Lunch and 150 g for the dinner totaling 470 glday (Dept Nutrition, Medical Research Institute, Colombo 8). The Total energy availability out of the 470 g of rice would be 1574 calories and 33.2 g of proteins. Average production of the basin during 1996-2000 is given in the table 4. During the 5 year period, rice production fluctuated from 226471 tons to 263910 MT with an average of 247048 tons. In respect to the rice production it is evident that basin has a per capita net production of 645.3 glday of rice (net) and 713.74 (gross) which is 1.37 times of the need. Thus in respect to the rice basin is self sufficient with the production. Table 4. Paddy and cereal net productions in the Ruhuna Basills (MTJ. Year 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 Average Item Annual paddy 2639lO.8 258935.4 252977.7 226471.36 232947.88 247048.63 production (MT) Other cereal 2842.7 4073.2 3457.95 production (MT) Annual cereal 232541.56 245179.98 production (MT) 257818.4 Annual gross paddy productions of Ruhuna basin under major, minor and rain fed systems are given in the table 5.ln calculating the gross production gross area harvested under the each system of irrigation was mUltip1ied by the average yield of the respective irrigation system. Analogically average yield of 261098.88 could be expected from Ruhuna basin with a contribution of 76% from the major irrigation systems. 112 Table 5. Paddy productions in different schemes o/the Ruhuna Basins (gross extent o/harvested) inMT. Year Average 2000 1999 1998 Scheme Production % Major 207040.47 195039.50 197693.01 199924.33 76.57 Minor 50575.21 41882.08 41157.35 44538.21 17.06 Rain fed 18408.99 15264.57 16235.45 16636.34 6.37 Total 276024.67 252186.15 255085.81 261098.88 100.00 (Paddy statistics, 2000,1999,1998 Department of census and statistics Ministry of Finance and planning) It Figure 3 indicates the population growth and the per capita availability of Energy from rice in the d basing during 1996 - 2000 period. Figure 3. Calorie availability 0/the Ruhuna Basin. population growth and Energy availability in the Ruhuna Basin ve lId C 2500 ~pt .a.~ . ...--. )g i 8. 2000 1---. • -.--~- :::1>:­ • ---. I energy i 1___ ,,,,",,,Ill,,titvl § t 1500 ..~~-----~.-~~.------ .5 II c .~ ear 0.2 1000 r----.= ";: 1\1 • • • • of 1\1 Q :i;: SOO D.OI 8.~c II 0 ·5.3 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 rice Year It is evident that per capita availability of energy from rice varies from 2259.75-1982 calories per age day per person with an average of 2108.69 calories per day per person. It is worth noting that the -.­ ,8.63 average energy availability from rice is high by about 40.34 % in the basin. Thus it could be concluded that rice production of the basin sufficient to meet the total energy requirement of the ;7.95 basin population (1056107 persons in the year 2000). In respect to the protein availability in the basin from the total rice production it is evident that per capita availability of protein is 40.22 g 19.98 per day, which is high by 26.8% compare to the average need. 2.3 Total food production and Consumption $ are the calculation purposes of total food availability statistics of all the food crops such as Rice, 'stem Pulses and nuts Coconut, fruits, sugar cane, Yams vegetables, and spices were taken. In lcally present calculation per day requirement of energy per person from vegetarian diet was taken '76% 2582 calories and 48.5 g of proteins. It is evident from the table 6 that basin has a production 113 of 625.3 g of rice which is higher than by 1.33 times of the standard needs of the rice according to Department of Nutrition, Medical Research Institute. Colombo. Table 6. Totalfood productions ofthe Ruhuna Basins except livestock andfisheries (Area 5578 sq km) in MT. Average 1998 1997 Per capita availability Item Production Total population 1022819.00 1012248.00 Annual paddy production 252977.7 226471.36 239724.53 645.29 Other cereal production 2842.7 4073.2 3457.95 9.32 Total cereal production 257818.4 232541.56 245179.98 654.61 OFC Pulses & Nuts 8128.00 8578.08 8353.04 22.49 -Tuber 16704.77 25066.67 20885.72 56.30 - Spices 4621.59 20052.14 12336.87 33.33 Vegetables 36514.65 36523.84 36519.25 98.32 Fruit 8233.69 7844.93 8039.31 21.64 Sugar production 17000.00 15000.00 16024.00 43.37 Coconut production (Fresh ~rnels) ~__ .__ .._____._.JQ276<2:QO__ 104858.00 106309 286.19 Production of vegetables and fruits is estimated by multiplying the per capita consumption by total mid year population.