In Sri Lanka there are regional variations in personal income levels, and in returns from use of land and water. A recent World Bank study reports on these variations, in the 1979/80 Maha paddy crop. The net return per day of family labour fluctuates from a high of Cey.Rs. 71 in the Polonnaruwa district to a low of just over Cey.Rs. 21 in Colombo (where culture methods are different). In Hambantota, the return was about Cey.Rs. 65; in Kandy, Cey.Rs. 30. The same report estimates that wage labour was paid from Cey.Rs. 12 to Cey.Rs. 17 per day (the latter in Colombo). Returns per acre were from Cey.Rs. 1 423 in Polonnaruwa to Cey.Rs. 643 in Colombo.
The socio-economic survey of 1969/70 gave an average income per income receiver of Cey.Rs. 199/month (or Cey.Rs. 6.60/day) (FAO, 1977, p.35). The persons that in 1976 identified the East Coast Fishery Project, estimated that the fishermen should earn net about Cey.Rs. 36 per day of actual fishing. This figure corresponds to about Cey.Rs. 19.60 per calendar day (FAO/World Bank, 1976).
We have no information on how the average fisherman/farmer household uses its time. However, this may not be a problem as fish farming would be introduced into rural areas as a complementary activity; it would not become, from the outset, a full-time occupation. Fish ponds of up to an acre in size do not require much time for management (maximum 1–2 man-hours per day) but will require protection from poachers. It would seem that most farmers and fishermen's households would have the time to manage smaller ponds, or other culture units, but that they would expect a reward equivalent to about Cey.Rs. 30 to 40 per man-day (8 h).
