Did the Wildlife Damage Census Cost 70 Million in Printing Expenses?

The Ministry of Agriculture announced that a national census of four groups of wild animals that cause damage to agricultural crops will be held on March 15^th, and various opinions are being expressed on social media regarding this.

However, misleading facts are being shared on the cost spent to print th census papers related to this wildlife census, and so we decided to a fact check regarding that.

Social media posts:

A news was reported through various media channels where various agricultural organizations, and university professors expressed their views regarding the census of wild animals who damage the agricultural crops. In that news, the Chairman of the National Farmers’ Union, Anuradha Tennakoon has also expressed his view.

He mentions that it is reported that 73 lakhs of census papers have been printed for this, and that approximately 73 million rupees have been spent on that as each printing paper have costed Rs.10. however, he does not cite any official source here.

This news was posted on Hiru Channel’s Facebook page with the caption, “Seventy-three million have been spent for the printing of census papers” (“සත්ත්ව සංගණනයට හත් කෝටි තිස් ලක්ෂයක පත්‍රිකා මුද්‍රණය කරලා”).

The news broadcast on Swarnawahini was posted on their Facebook page, stating that “hundreds of thousands have been spent on printing the census papers” (“පත්‍රිකා මුද්‍රණයට ලක්ෂ ගණනක් වියදම් කරලා”)

Accordingly, we did a fact check to see whether seven million rupees were spent on printing the census papers.

Fact-Check:

Although the Chairman of National Farmers’ Union Anuradha Tennakoon stated that the amount spent on the printing of census papers were 7 million at the media briefing held on March 6^th, he did not cite the source from which he obtained these calculations.

Here is the media briefing held by him.

Citing his statement, the mainstream media also stated that a large amount of money was spent on printing the census papers.

Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation

Following the release of statements regarding the amount spent on printing the census papers, secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation, D. P. Wickramasinghe made a clarification to the media on 10^th regarding the expenditure reports published on the livestock census.

He mentioned that this task has been carried out at a minimal cost and that the officers providing the services volunteered on this.

Though the social media posts claimed that a large sum of money has been spent on this census, the cost of printing one of these census papers have been only 30 cents. He further stated that the main expense is only the printing of pamphlets and that no other expenses are included except for certain transportation costs.

He also stated that although information has been reported about the damage done by wild animals at the agricultural sector for a long time, an accurate assessment on that has not been made so far. As a result, this program has been implemented and the possibility of obtaining an accurate assessment through it will be investigated.

This program has been implemented at the district level and as well as rural level. He further stated that four officers at the rural level, headed by the Grama Niladhari will be contributing to this.

Media department of Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation

The media department of Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation has released a media statement regarding this misleading statement. There they cited the document sent by the Government Printing Department stating the estimated cost of printing the census papers and the official document regarding the actual expenditure for the printing of census papers, by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation.

Accordingly, the estimated cost document sent by the Government Printing Department states that if a census sheet is printed on 70 gsm White printing paper, it will cost 45 cents to print each sheet. Accordingly, printing 7,000,000 census forms using 70 gsm White Printing Paper will cost 3,150,000, which should include 18% VAT.

It is also stated that if these census papers are printed using 60 gsm Bond Paper, it will cost 30 cents per papers and accordingly, printing 7,000,000 census papers will cost 2,100,100 in total, which should also include 18% VAT.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Agriculture has printed 7,000,000 of these census papers using 60gsm Bond Paper and has spent Rs. 2,478,000 including 18% VAT on it. The document is below,

Citing both of these papers, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation states that,

Only 30 cents were spent on printing a census sheet related to the census of wild animals that damage agricultural crops, and that the printing was carried out by the Government Printing Department. Accordingly, the total amount spent on printing the census sheets are Rs. 2,478,000.00 including VAT.

It has also been informed that the statement made by Anuradha Tennakoon at the media briefing on 7^th March is completely false and that the media channels that published the false news have been asked to take steps to correct it.

Census of animals that damage agricultural crops

The Ministry of Agriculture conducted the national census of wild animals on March 15^th.

This census is being conducted on 04 groups of wild animals that cause damage to agricultural crops and the main objective of this census is to estimate the number of these animals.

A committee consisting of experts with extensive knowledge has been appointed to minimize damage to agricultural crops, and this census is being conducted on the advice of that committee.

Agriculture in this country have been facing a severe challenge due to crop damage caused by wildlife for a long time, and elephants, wild boars, monkeys, giant squirrels, and peacocks have been identified as the main animal groups that damage these crops.

Although, the country’s farmers and ordinary citizens have been fighting against this problem for many years, no authority have been able to provide a proper solution to it until now.

Accordingly, the current government appointed an expert committee to investigate relevant matters to minimize animal damage on the 15^th December 2024 with the aim of finding an effective solution to this problem. The committee is chaired by Ms. D.S. Ratnasinghe, additional secretary for Agricultural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture. The committee includes 15 members including Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture Mrs. P.S. Fernando, Additional Director General of Agriculture, G.G.V. Shyamali, Chairman of the Paddy Cultivation Board Dr. J.S.K.D. Jayakody, Professor A.L. Sandika, Director of the Hector Kobbekaduwa Institute of Agricultural Affairs, and K.A. Sumith Chandana, Commissioner of the Department of Agricultural Development Services.

How an animal census is conducted

The Ministry of Agriculture conducted this census for five minutes on Saturday March 15^th from 8.00 am to 8.05 am targeting the two species of monkeys in Sri Lanka, giant squirrels, and peacocks, which have been identified as the main wild animals responsible for crop damage.

It has been informed that during that period, one should observe their garden/ farmland/ school premises/ religious places and other public places and count the number of monkeys, giant squirrels and peacocks present in the relevant premises at the time and record it on the census sheet.

The Ministry of Agriculture states that management methods for controlling these animals will be planned in the future based on the data from this census.

This census will be conducted only at the household level and the public is requested to cooperate by providing accurate information. The Ministry of Agriculture states that this census is being conducted island wide under the auspices of District Secretaries and that information is being collected at the village level under the supervision of Grama Seva Officers.

The responsibilities of raising awareness about this and distributing census papers to households and other premises, and collecting the papers after the census have been assigned to the Grama Niladhari/ Samurdhi Development Officer/ Economic Development Officer and the Agricultural Research Production Assistant.

Here are the views of Professor Ashoka Dangolla of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Peradeniya, regarding the animal census.

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Conclusion:

Our investigation has revealed that the statement made by the Chairman of the National Farmers’ Union, Anuradha Tennakoon, that 73 million rupees were spent on printing 730,000 census papers related to this census is false.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation has spent 30 cents on printing a census sheet related to the census of wild animals that damage agricultural crops, and the total cost spent on printing 7,000,000 census sheets is Rs. 2,478,000.00 including VAT.