Last week, Lankadeepa, the largest selling daily in Sri Lanka, published this photo of elephants eating the unsold vegetables at Dambulla econimic centre. The waste: 25 tons. The loss: entirely to farmers, according to Lankadeepa, as the vendors purchase them on credit and pay only for sold quantities.

Primary wastage in vegetables and fruits is estimated to be more than 40% of the output in Sri Lanka. In other agri products it is more than 20% (Devagiri, 2005) While the reasons can vary, there is no doubt proper planning and management can reduce it. That is what knowledge economy is all about. Not necessarily taking people out from their occupations, but making the business processes more productive with the use of information.

Two references to our past research are below. We still have a long way to go.

Agriculture Workshop presentation
Do farmers benefit from maintaining traceability standards

By the way, our apologies to elephants. Guess you guys can find something else than eating vegetables meant for human consumption.