Gamini D's dilemma in returning to UNP and CBK's entry via WPC

The Central province is well known for its growing of spices like pepper, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg.

- 

They are grown in small household properties unlike tea, rubber, cocoa and coconut which are commercial crops grown in large estates in the district. After interacting with Kandyan villagers both as an official and a politician I became aware how important these crops are for the village economy.

The villagers are primary producers who sell off their produce to intermediary traders who in turn sell them to the bigger brokers in Colombo. This system is outdated and tends to give a bad deal to the primary producer-the villager. Often the intermediary dealer is a Muslim who has the ability to activate their commercial links with big time exporters in Colombo and earn large margins at the expense of villagers who are the actual producers.

With the expansion of the global middle class the demand for spices have gone up but we have not been able to exploit these assets due to a bureaucracy which is slow to act. On the other hand India - especially Tamil Nadu and Kerala are front runners in meeting global demand. This often leads to smuggling of spices like cloves and nutmeg to India because our products have a premium demand.

As Minister of Finance I often interacted with the Indian Minister of External trade, Kamal Nath with the idea of adjusting their duty structure to favour our spices on a preferential rate. He did so and it raised a furore in Kerala and Kamal Nath told me in lighter vein that he was blamed by the Indian Congress for their defeat in the local polls in Kerala because the local growers of spices and cashew had voted against them.