料理はまきで…経済危機のスリランカ

【ネヒナＡＦＰ＝時事】かつては比較的豊かだったスリランカでは現在、医薬品やガスなどあらゆる物が不足している。そのような中、ガスではなくまきや炭での調理に戻る人が増えている。（写真はスリランカ・コロンボのホテルで、まきで調理をする女性）
　まきや炭への移行は今年初め、全国でガス爆発事故が相次いだことがきっかけとなった。ガス会社がコスト削減でプロパンの比率を引き上げたため、圧力が危険なレベルにまで上昇し、１０００件以上の爆発事故が発生。少なくとも７人が死亡、数百人が負傷した。
　現在はガスの供給が滞り、ガスがあったとしても手が届かないほどの値段になっている。
　政府には外貨がなく、ガソリンや軽油、灯油に加え、火力発電用の燃料も輸入できず、長時間にわたり停電を行っている。
　レストランを経営するＭ・Ｇ・カルナワティさん（６７）も、まきを使い始めた。煙を吸ってしまうが他に選択肢はないとＡＦＰに語った。「まきを手に入れるのも難しくなっている。価格も高騰している」
　かつてスリランカの１人当たりの国内総生産（ＧＤＰ）はフィリピンと同程度で、隣国インドがうらやむような生活水準を誇っていた。
　だが、経済政策の失敗に加え新型コロナウイルスの流行により貴重な収入源だった観光業が大打撃を受け、輸入品の支払いに充てる外貨が底をついた。
　ラニル・ウィクラマシンハ首相は先月５日、議会で「２０２３年も困難な状況に直面するだろう」と述べた。
　インフレも深刻だ。国連は人口約２２００万人の約８割が十分な食料を買うお金がなく、食事を抜かなければならない状況にあると推定している。
　経済危機以前、コロンボのほぼ全ての家庭がガスコンロを使っていた。
　まき販売業を営むセリア・ラジャさん（６０）の商売は、いまだかつてないほど盛況だ。
　「以前はまきオーブンを使う顧客はレストラン１軒しかいなかった。今で需要が多すぎて追いつかない」とＡＦＰに語った。
　ラジャさんが木を買っている地元の業者は、需要の急増と輸送費の高騰のため、値段を倍に引き上げたという。
　サムパス・トゥシャーラさんは、茶葉と天然ゴムの生産が盛んな南部の村ネヒナで伐採業を営んでいる。「これまでは、生産できなくなったゴムの木を切るために、地主が私たちに金を払っていた」「今では、木を手に入れるために私たちが金を払っている」と話した。
　実業家のリヤド・イスマイルさんは、２００８年に発明したしちりんの売り上げが急増したと話す。イスマイルさんのしちりんは、ココナツ炭を使うもので、バッテリー駆動のファンで空気を送り込む。従来のしちりんに比べ煙やすすが抑えられている。
　高級ラインの「イージーストーブ」と一般向けの「ジャナリパ」の販売価格はそれぞれ約５０ドル（約６８００円）と約２０ドル（約２７００円）。あまりの人気に順番待ちになっている。
　今ではコピー商品も出回っていると、イスマイルさんは話した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/07/08-14:09）

As once relatively wealthy Sri Lanka suffers a dire economic crisis with shortages of everything from medicines to gas, people are returning to cooking with firewood.
The switch began at the beginning of the year when more than 1,000 kitchens exploded across the country, killing at least seven people and injuring hundreds more.
The reason was suppliers looking to cut costs and increasing the proportion of propane, which raised the pressure to dangerous levels.
But now, along with much else in the country of 22 million people, gas is either unavailable or too expensive for most.
Some tried to shift to kerosene oil cookers, but the government did not have dollars to import it along with petrol and diesel, which are also in short supply.
And those who bought electric cookers were in for a rude shock when the government imposed lengthy power blackouts as it ran out of dollars to import fuel for generators.
Niluka Hapuarachchi, 41, was miraculously unharmed when her gas range exploded soon after cooking Sunday lunch in August.
Fortunately, no one was there at the time. There were pieces of glass all over the floor. The glass-top stove had exploded. I will never use gas for cooking. It is not safe. We are now on firewood, she said, despite moves to address the propane problem.
Roadside eatery owner M.G. Karunawathi, 67, also switched to wood and said it was a choice between closing her business or putting up with smoke and soot.
We suffer (smoke inhalation) when cooking with firewood, but we have no choice, Karunawathi told AFP. It is also difficult to find firewood and it is also becoming very expensive.
- Pain into 2023 -
Sri Lanka used to be a middle-income country, with GDP per head comparable to the Philippines and living standards the envy of neighbouring India.
But with economic mismanagement and the crucial tourism industry hammered by Covid-19, the nation has run out of dollars needed to pay for most imports.
And the pain will likely continue for some time, with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in parliament on Tuesday saying: We will have to face difficulties in 2023 as well.
This is the truth. This is the reality.
Unofficial inflation is now second only to Zimbabwe, and the United Nations estimates about 80 percent of people skip meals because they cannot afford food.
Before the crisis, almost all households in Colombo could afford to use gas, but now woodcutter Selliah Raja, 60, is doing a roaring trade.
Earlier we had just one customer -- a restaurant that had a wood-fired oven -- but we now have so many, we can't meet the demand, Raja told AFP.
He says his timber suppliers in the provinces have doubled their prices because of the sharp rise in demand and skyrocketing transport costs.
Earlier, land owners paid us to uproot rubber trees that are no longer productive, lumberjack Sampath Thushara told AFP in the tea-and-rubber-growing southern village of Nehinna.
Today, we have to pay to get these trees.
Foraging for wood can also be dangerous in the snake- and insect-infested forests. Last week, a father of three died from wasp stings in central Sri Lanka and four others were hospitalised.
Demand is also surging for alternative energy, and entrepreneur Riyad Ismail, 51, has seen sales light up for the hi-tech firewood stove he invented in 2008.
He has attached a small battery-powered electric fan to blow air into the barrel-shaped stove to ensure better burning, thus reducing smoke and soot associated with traditional firewood burners.
His upmarket Ezstove and the mass-market Janalipa, which uses coconut charcoal, promises a minimum 60 percent savings compared with cooking with gas.
Both his stoves -- which cost around $20 and $50, respectively -- have become big sellers with buyers having to go on a waiting list.
It has been so successful, Ismail says, there are several copies on the market.
You will see many renditions of my design... other people are piggybacking (on the design), Ismail said while making chicken satay.