’’Told you to plant something’’

Are vegetables becoming too expensive for you? 

Well, you only have yourself to blame – or that’s what the country’s agriculture minister seemed to suggest when journalists questioned him on skyrocketing vegetable prices.
The Minister also recalled his earlier advice to the public, to grow their own vegetables. 

“I told you so. I had warned several times before, that vegetable prices will soar. I predicted this would happen as we saw heavy rainfall for months. For instance we are seeing fair weather in Hambantota only today after several days of heavy rain,” the Minister told journalists. 

Surely this is just one minister in the Cabinet who appears to be tone-deaf to the difficulties of the general public, right? 

Education Minister Susil Premajayantha said that he issued instructions to all 19 open university premises owned by the Education Ministry, to immediately start cultivation projects, as a solution to the issue of pricey vegetables. Immediate action should be taken to carry out cultivations that can be used on a daily basis, he said.   

Is the future of the country really going to depend on citizens becoming self-sufficient, and not depending on the state or economy meeting their requirements?