Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Day 20: Portrait of a Visionary

Ranjit Mulleriyawa
Mr Mulleriyawa is a member of the University of Peraneiya Chronic Kidney Disaease think tank. He has spent over a decade living among the rice paddy farmers and has a genuine perspective. His story is a great one and a synopsis is provided here.

Back to the land – an agriculture graduate’s experiences in farming and rural living in the dry zone

By Ranjit Mulleriyawa

Forty four years ago, my wife and I decided to take to a life of farming and rural living on a two hectare plot of land in the dry zone (in Mahiyangana). This was no week-end picnic, nor was it an academic exercise in participant observation initiated and sustained by external donor funding. It was to be our livelihood.
Our decision to become farmers was frowned upon by the tradition bound society of the day. Convention demanded that a graduate endowed with a Masters’ degree in agriculture and post graduate research experience at a prestigious international research institute should seek employment in the public sector or University. Living the life of a goviya, was simply unheard of! Nevertheless, we persisted in implementing our decision. Why did we decide to become farmers? For a variety of reasons : a basic love for farming and rural living, the spirit of adventure- to blaze a new trail; to learn the practical farming skills which a Univ education does not provide; above all, we were driven by a strong gut feeling that  a simple life was the key to sensible living.
We built our own house using unbaked clay bricks and having a thatch of Illuk grass. This was delightfully cool. There was no pipe borne water, electricity, telephone or TV. We bathed in the Mahaweli Ganga (barely 100 meters away from the farm), drank water from an open well in the front yard, and had plenty of home grown food, peace of mind and good health.  It was a life relatively free of stress. We were not rich (in material terms- we had hardly any bank balance to speak of), we earned enough money to meet our essential needs, and we were content. Yet, this simple life was worth more to us than a pot of gold. Living close to nature, interacting with peasant farmers in the area, we learnt many useful values and attributes: Patience, tolerance, humility, sharing, love, faith, hope, courage and survival with dignity. They also taught us many useful lessons in agriculture: The need to recognize, appreciate and value indigenous knowledge.   
Here’s how it came about:

Our paddy field consisted of two plots – one sandy, and the other clayey- a typical paddy soil. The normal practice in land preparation (prior to sowing paddy) is to shave off all weed growth on the bunds (niyaras) and plough the weeds into the soil. We noticed that the peasant farmers in the area would NOT resort to this normal practice in their sandy fields. They would instead carefully collect weed growth on the bunds, and burn it. We asked them why they did so. “If you plough in these weeds, your rice seedlings will die after 4-6 weeks”, they claimed. This did not seem to make sense to us. Theory teaches you that sandy soils benefit most from organic matter, and these weeds could provide valuable organic matter. So we decided to prepare our fields the ‘scientific way’ by incorporating the weeds into the soil. Six weeks later, we were horrified to see our rice seedlings dying in patches. What the peasant farmers predicted had come true. Panic gripped us. What do we do now? “You can still save part of your crop by draining the field until the soil cracks. Thereafter, you must resort to alternate wetting and drying the field”, was their advice. This time we listened to the farmers, and it worked! This was our first lesson in humility, and the value of indigenous knowledge. All the academic knowledge imparted by the International Rice Research Institute proved inadequate when it came to site specific land use.

A few seasons later, we learnt another valuable lesson – the limits of new technology. Fresh from our baptism in green revolution agriculture at the International Rice Research Institute, (IRRI), we were among the first farmers in Sri Lanka to grow the much acclaimed ‘miracle rice’ (IR8). This rice variety yielded three to four times more than local varieties. One season, we had an exceptionally good crop having a potential yield of 130-140 bu/acre (6.5-7 tons per hectare). Shortly before harvest, in the month of August, we experienced very heavy rainfall- over 250mm of rain within a period of one week. The first gusts of wind and rain flattened the rice plants. More incessant rains, and the rice grains began to germinate on the panicles (ears) itself. Threshing was impossible because the earthen threshing floor was too wet. Within a few days our entire harvest was a steaming mass of fermenting grain. Seeing our plight, Punchi Banda, the village cynic exclaimed “Wediya kanda gihin ageeranayak heduna wage neda?!” (This is like suffering from indigestion due to over eating). That remark really hurt.  We asked Punchi Banda how he had coped with the nasty weather…. After all, he too was a rice farmer. “We grow indigenous rice varieties having inbuilt seed dormancy. They don’t germinate for two or three months after maturity. Besides, our rice produces much less grain, so we can easily thresh it by beating the panicles on a log, and we can spread it out to air dry inside our houses. Your harvest is so big; you will need a huge shed to dry your paddy”.  He was absolutely right. He taught us another important lesson: Proponents of new technology must think through the entire process of technology transfer. Introducing high yielding varieties is useless unless farmers have the means of processing, and handling the increased grain yield.
Farewell to farming

We operated our little farm for ten years (1969-78) until changes in agricultural policy following political change resulted in a flood of cheap imported food from India. Unable to compete with these imports, and lacking the resilience of the peasant farmer, we were compelled to close down the farm and seek employment elsewhere. However, that grass root level experience in farming was a defining moment in our lives. We resolved to spend the rest of our life working with farmers and spotlighting problems of small farmers through a number of NGOs.

Monday, June 29, 2015

Days 18 & 19: Riddi Viharaya temple


67.5 ft granite Buddha carved into natural formation.

Today we pilgrimaged to Riddi Viharaya or "Silver Temple" temple, northwest of Kandy which dates back to 2 BCE in the village of Ridigama. This location was the source of silver ore that was used to build the Ruwanwelisaya which is one of the largest stupa in the country.

Entrance into Riddi Viharaya...no photos allowed inside where there is a 20 ft sleeping Buddha statue.

A stupa or "mound" contains relics, often the bones of monks and is considered a powerful place to meditate.
Another precious relic encased by a golden Buddha before entering the temple.
The granite Buddha was unveiled in April 2015 after a decade of construction and carving. It was made in response to the destruction of relics in 2001 in other parts of Asia to as a symbol of peace and unity.



We stopped at Kurunegale Lake for a late lunch.
Kurunegale Lake







Saturday, June 27, 2015

Day 17: Lecture 3

The students were primed for today's quiz and .....when in Sri Lanka do as..... I taught in a sari! Not too clumsy, I got used to it very quickly and forgot all about it as the day went on except some awkward maneuverability moments. I spoke with one undergraduate student about his fourth year research topics and gave him some options to consider. Today Thivanka's husband arrive from Massachusetts and we they came by together to pick me up. Sampath took us to his town which abuts the university and we met his very welcoming family including the newest addition, his nephew who was born 3 days ago! The baby's birth time and date had been submitted to an astrological expert who sent back the letters that should be in his chosen name. there were also example options to choose from. It makes naming very straight forward though the couple could get creative with the letters I suppose. after some tea and kind hospitality we were off again.

Day 16: Dengue Fever

As we left the house this morning there was a cloud of smoke. The local authorities had just sprayed an insecticide (malathion) to reduce the mosquito population and the risk of Dengue Fever. As there is no vaccine, the only way to control it is to control mosquitoes. Dengue is  endemic to over 110 countries and the virus has 5 different types. We held our breath and continued onto the university for the second lecture. The students were attentive and some were a little shocked that they had a quiz since they had missed the first lecture. Tomorrow Sudeera is going into the field to retrieve the samplers we deployed and so we reviewed sampling and retrieval procedures.
Afterwards Thivanka and I went to a tea house for some black tea and enjoyed the busy Kandy streets pulsed with activity.


tea house

Thivanka's mom  approved of the sari fabric we purchased and knew exactly what to do!

Day 15: Worked from Home

black tea and jaggery from the Kithul palm tree

There were no assigned lectures today and we had final edits on Thivanka's manuscript so we worked from home. During this time we enjoyed some black tea with jaggery which is a sweet solid made from the concentrated syrup of Kithul or coconut trees. In Aftrica and parts of Asia it is also made from concentrated cane juice. It is a healthy sweetner. I prepared my lecture for tomorrow and Friday plus reviewed Joanne's doctoral thesis chapter.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Day 14: Lecture 1

Today was the first official day of the semester and Dr. Chandrajith has prepared a schedule to accommodate 2nd, 3rd and 4th year undergraduate majors in Geology to attend. Our first lecture covered basic introductions to the oceans, ocean chemistry and residence times. This time I knew to exit before the students :) . Aside from teaching we are doing some background work to set up future collaborative experiments.


Lecture hall in the original Geology building

Day 13: Back again

We drove straight to the University for the CKDu meeting and there was an informative exchange of geochemical, agricultural, sociological and medical participants. Glyphosate is now officially banned from import and the residual supplies are likely two years worth. The alternative is traditional methods of weeding to prepare the rice fields. The rates of CKDu are on the rise and some communities have over 8 %. The most likely cause since this is characteristic of tropical climates is toxicity enhancement of pesticide exposure by severe dehydration and possibly further exacerbated by alcohol consumption. 

Some interesting statistics:
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 201411(2), 2125-2147; doi:10.3390/ijerph110202125

Monday, June 22, 2015

Day 12: Heaven on Earth




Though just back from travels we again set out at 7 am to meet Rohana for a one day excursion to Horton Plains National Park. During colonial times this park was a gaming location where the Brit's would hunt elephant, leopard and sambar. Today it is a wildlife preserve. The views here are breathtaking so do not miss scrolling down to see the entire collection. This reserve is one of the must see places in the world.

Our Route from Kandy to the National Park.


Views along the way at approximately 6000 ft


We stopped at the Mackwoods Tea Plantation for a cup.



Rohana and Thivanka enjoy a cup of tea and the view.

Sanbar (large deer) grazing.

In the distance the second and third highest peaks in Sri Lanka could be seen including the fourth largest Adam's peak which is believed to bear the footprints of the Buddha. In Christian and Islamic tradition it is the place where Adam fell to earth when cast from Eden... It all starts here


We also stopped at a dairy farm and had some sweetened warm milk.



Picnic Lunch.... a tub of rice and smaller containers filled with flavorful dhal, tofu, and assorted curries.
This meteorological station is on the reserve and may be our high altitude sampling site.


Great signage!


The entryway to the 7 km route is colored with bright red rhododendron.

The leopards which we did not see :) .




We were very fortunate to get clear views. The cliff is an over 400 ft drop at this 7000 ft altitude spot. It is called the world's end because it is usually wrapped in clouds and looks like you have reached a point before an abyssal  nothingness. It is also a spot known for the broken hearted to fall to their end.

A widespread die off is affecting larger canopy trees for reasons unknown

Baker's Falls, on a tributary of the Belihul Oya (20 m drop).



Day 11: Last day in Matara


I lectured from 9 am to 12 pm and covered the carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur cycles. As soon as students were dismissed we were met by our driver to go to the bus station. While interacting with the students I could not help but wonder about what intense competition they had been through to get here. It turns out that out of the 300 000 or so  students who sit for the national entry exams only 20 000 are accepted. Though the literacy rate in Sri Lanka is over 92%, a mere 6.7 % of each cohort gets free university education. Another 10 000 or so goes to private colleges or training programs and an overwhelming 90% does not continue to post secondary education. The preparation for the national exams is intense and students usually supplement class with private evening tutoring.  The government has actually improved the original numbers by adding four additional university campuses for a total of 13 universities in the country. Of these 6 have a medical school. In order to allocate positions fairly the cutoff grades for very rural areas are adjusted. What is impressive is the investment being made in new facilities at the Universities. There is clearly an impressive current period of growth.
From the Central Bank of Sri Lanka 2013 report

Relatively impressive numbers.

We took the first bus from Matara to Colombo where Nalaka and his son met us to transfer to the next bus terminal and catch our connection to Kandy. We arrived in Kandy just before 8 pm. The ride was long and fortunately we had some rambutan fruit as a treat. This fruit is juicy and sweet. It grows on a mid-sized tree and is thought to be native to Sri Lanka. 
The zany looking rambutan fruit.
Our route took us from the southern coast at Matara to Kandy via Colombo. Also shown on the map is the Waulpane Cave we visited yesterday


Saturday, June 20, 2015

Day 10: Waulpane Cave




We set out at 6:30 for Waulpane in search of possible stalagmites.

The cave is at 900m elevation and is one of the world's largest limestone caves. Waulpane has a 45m waterfall known as "Waulpane Ella", and hundreds of species of flora have been identified around the cave. 

Nalaka had described the conditions and honestly I thought he was exaggerating to mess with us but he was not. There are an estimated 250000 bats in the cave and that is a lot of guano! We were in gloves and fortunately had masks because the guano was overpowering. 

The cave has numerous stalactites that are eroding and strangely no stalagmites to be found. We saw two water monitors about three feet long and yes... 2 inch roaches... many of them.  






Getting ready to go caving... Thivanka, me, Nalaka and our guide.
Water Monitors 



Waulpane Cave

Day 9: A day in Ruhuna

We were picked up at the guest house for breakfast at 8am and by 9am I was back in the lecture hall. 

Today we focused on the carbonate system, solubility products and aragonite saturation. The students were shy during lecture but had many questions afterwards. 

All the fourth year students are conducting a research project and most questions were from these students looking for further references etc. We got a boxed lunch and worked until 3 pm when it was time for my seminar. The topic was organic contaminants for a broad science audience. I was impressed by the dedication of the faculty. Most have studied in Japan, Switzerland and Germany or the US and all are vested in growth and development. 

This university is young, only 30 years and there is a vibrant energy and collegiality among its faculty. After the talk I was given a lion statue as a thank you and then got an additional treat. One of the women in the Dean's office heard I liked saris so they whisked me away to a sari shop!!! It was so thoughtful and I will treasure it. 

Originally they wanted to get it sown so I could teach in it on Saturday but the seamstress was not in. I will have it done in time for lectures in Peradeniya.

Following the seminar. 

Sari shop

Generous gifts that I will treasure!



Thursday, June 18, 2015

Day 8: Meetings and Teaching

Today we had a meeting with senior undergraduate student Amavi, who will be working on a 6 month dissolved organic carbon study, and I will have the pleasure of being her adviser. Amavi will monitor dissolved organic carbon  and nitrogen concentrations in five tributaries during this summer monsoon period and a little thereafter. We went through hypotheses and project design and she is now summarizing her experimental strategy. 

I taught the first of three sessions in chemical oceanography this afternoon. We covered the formation of oceans, the resulting chemistry of the oceans and residence times. When I dismissed the class nobody got up. I wondered if they wanted me to go onto the next lesson but Amavi signaled that I needed to exit the room before the students could stand. It was comical. 
What a nice ritual.

Summer monsoon rains are lovely when you watch from our office's dry grounds.
Students fill in for the lecture. 

Amavi and Thivanka at dinner. The restaurant is designed like a lecture hall so everyone gets the ocean view.