A Fork in the Road: Reclaiming Sri Lanka’s Food Future,
The 110th birth anniversary of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the world’s first woman prime minister, fell on April 17th. That moment invites more than remembrance. It asks us to study, and to act.
Her 1970s government, facing a severe foreign exchange crisis, launched a radical program of import substitution and food self-sufficiency. This was not paranoia. It was a rational response to a world on fire. In those same years, global food shortages triggered famines and civil unrest. Even the United States and the Soviet Union, the era’s superpowers, experienced grain shortages and widespread price shocks. The 1972 to 1975 world food crisis was real, and small nations like Sri Lanka had every reason to fear being left to starve.
The results of Bandaranaike’s policies were mixed. Bans on imported food created local shortages alongside gains in self-reliance, and the economy eventually buckled. But the core ambition to feed the nation from its own soil was never wrong. It was, and remains, a question of survival.
Today, Sri Lanka stands at a similar precipice. The IMF and World Bank warn of economic contraction. Food inflation, supply shocks, and malnutrition haunt millions. Once again, the world is unstable. Once again, waiting for imports is a gamble. But simply reviving old policies is not enough. We must go further, and do it smarter.
The true lesson of the 1970s is not autarky at any cost. It is the necessity of national food sovereignty anchored in nutritional wisdom. We need a campaign that reorganizes how we eat, not just what we grow. This means moving from calories to complete nutrition by shifting plates toward red rice, kurakkan, jackfruit, cassava, pumpkin, banana, and leafy greens. All of these are locally abundant, and all are rich in energy, minerals, and vitamins.
This campaign must be a people’s movement. Dietitians design the science. Farmers provide the seeds. Influencers spark the pride. Even international chefs can put Sri Lanka’s ingredients on the world map. We can learn from global peers: Thailand’s Global Thai program, Nigeria’s Jollof Wars, and grassroots solidarity movements show that local food can become a source of cultural power and economic resilience.
This is not austerity. This is liberation from imported, processed emptiness. It is a return to a healthier, tastier, and more dignified way of eating. It strengthens the body and the nation at once.
The window will not stay open forever. Every delay deepens dependency. But if we act now with unity, creativity, and evidence, we can turn crisis into renewal. Let us honour Srimavo Bandaranaike not by repeating the past, but by completing what she began: a Sri Lanka that feeds itself, well and wisely.
The fork is in our hand. Let us choose the path of life.
Dr. Jagath Chandrawansa ,
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