Browsing by Author "Pathiraja, P.M.E.K."

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    An Assessment of Labour Availability in Major Coconut Growing Areas in Coconut Triangle
    (2010) Pathiraja, P.M.E.K.; Fernando, M.T.N.; Abeysekera, A.W.A.D.R.; Subasinghe, S.D.J.N.
    Scarcity of labour, increased labour charges and shortage of both skilled and unskilled labour have become a major issue for coconut growers. This study aimed to assess the current labour availability in coconut cultivation sector. A field survey was conducted from October to December 2005, focusing four major coconut growing areas in the coconut triangle namely Kurunegala, Kuliyapitiya, Marawila and Gampaha. The findings show that an acute laboure shortage is experienced by 23% and 21 % of the respondents in KuJiyapitiya and Gampaha regions respectively. Generally, 65% shortage in Gampaha, 60% in Kuliyapitiya, 50% in Kurnnegala and 27% shortage in Marawila were reported. An acute shortage for skilled labour necessary for harvesting was reported in Gampaha and Marawila whereas in other two areas it was for unskilled labour. Irrespective ofthe region, young generations participation to the labour force was very poor. Generally, smallholders pay higher wage rates compared to estate sector. Skilled labour is 3 to 4 times highly paid compared to the unskilled labour in each region. In terms of wage rates a statistically significant gender disparity exists in each region favouring male labour. The findings suggest the need of inventing innovative mechanization technology in order to reduce the dependence on manual labour. The cost effectiveness ofthe mechanization technologies is also highlighted. A deep attitudinal change is a requisite to attract the young generation to cultivation sector and there is a possibility of reintroducing harvesting as a recognized commercial service by a company.
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    Monthly picking of coconuts vis-a-vis biomonthly picking-An economic analysis
    (2007) Pathiraja, P.M.E.K.; Fernando, M.T.N.; Abeysekera, A.W.A.D.R.
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    Processing of Virgin Coconut Oil in Sri Lanka Using Cold Extraction Method: An Economic Analysis
    (2008) Pathiraja, P.M.E.K.; Fernando, M.T.N.; Jayasundera, J.M.M.A.
    Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) is a newly introduced product in Sri Lanka with a high export market potential. Only a few entrepreneurs however, are capitalizing on this opportunity due to several factors such as lack of rigorous economic analyses and unavailability of information on export market opportunities. Against this background, this study attempts to analyse the economic viability of this enterprise in Sri Lanka. Interestingly, it was found that the VCO provides the highest net return per 1000 coconuts utilized compared to the other traditional coconut kernel products. The pay-back period for the initial investment on machineries was little over a month under current prices of inputs and outputs. Sensitivity analysis suggests that the crucial factor that determines the economic viability of this enterprise is world market VCO price and the sensitivity of the net return of VCO production for the nut price is very low. The break-even price of one liter of VCO was found to be US $ 4.8 whereas it receives US $ 8 in the export market. This study concluded the need of encouraging VCO production in Sri Lanka, given the long-term brighter outlook of the global VCO industry.
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    Quest for Better Technology: Case of Brown Coir Fibre Industry in Sri Lanka
    (2009) Jayalath, K.V.N.N.; Pathiraja, P.M.E.K.; Jayasinghe-Mudalige, U.K.; Subasinghe, S.D.J.N.; Weerasinghe, W.G.P.
    The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a number of attributes (a = 23) upon 5 major factors (Labor, Land and Capital, Machine, Technical and Market) that influence a selection of a particular technology to manufacture brown coir fibre in Sri Lanka (i.e. Sri Lankan Drum Pairs, Defibering Machine, Dl Machine). A cross section of owners of fibre mills (n = 30) located in the Kurunegaka, Puttlam and Gampaha districts were selected and a personal interview with each mill owner was carried out with the help of a structured questionnaire from May to June 2008 to collect data. The Semantic Differential Analysis techniques were employed to find the relative strength of the attributes of 5 factors considered in the analysis, where the responses were recorded on a seven-point bipolar scale. The "XLStat" software was used extensively to plot the relationships between the 23 attributes and 3 technologies. The results suggest that all three technologies are negatively perceived by the coir fibre millers on land and capital, and machine subsets. Further millers had negative perception on attributes related to labor subset of Sri Lankan Drum Pair technology. However, they hold the view that high quality of the bristle fibre extracted by this machine is not comparable with that extracted using any other technologies. The millers' perception on technical and market attributes of the three different technologies was better than on other attributes. The results imply that policymakers should, more specifically, take into account the issues related to capital, machine and labor as they advise coir fibre manufactures about possible technology transfer, in order to avoid potential failures in these markets (i.e. plant-exit) and government policy (i.e. non-compliance).