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Farmers protest demanding crop damage compensation

31 Dec 2021

  • No clarity on promised fertiliser shortage-related payments
BY Buddhika Samaraweera Farmers in several areas are currently staging protests demanding that the Government pay compensation for crops damaged due to the fertiliser shortage in the country, as earlier promised by Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage. Farmers in the Uva Paranagama area in Badulla staged a protest yesterday (30) demanding compensation for their crops damaged due to the lack of fertiliser, as promised by the Government. Commenting to the media during the protest, the farmers said that their crops had been destroyed during both the Yala and Maha cultivating seasons due to the fertiliser crisis. Therefore, they emphasised that the Government should take immediate action to compensate for the damages. Meanwhile, farmers in the Rajanganaya area (in Anuradhapura) also staged a protest on Wednesday (29), alleging that their crops have been severely damaged due to the lack of fertiliser. Claiming that Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage had been stating before the media that action would be taken to compensate the farmers for any crop damages due to the fertiliser issue, the farmers who participated in the protest demanded that they be compensated as soon as possible. Attempts to contact Agriculture Ministry Secretary D.M.L.D. Bandaranayake to inquire into the Agriculture Ministry’s plans to pay compensation for crop damages due to the fertiliser crisis, proved futile. A proposal to ban the use and importation of chemical fertilisers and agrochemicals including pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides/weedicides was submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa last April and the same was granted approval, following which the relevant gazette notification was issued on 6 May. However, the Government decided to revoke Extraordinary Gazette No. 2226/48 of 6 May, which banned the importation of chemical fertilisers and agrochemicals, and to thereby allow the private sector to import the same, with effect from 24 November. However, throughout the past few months, farmers in several areas were seen charging that there is a serious shortage of fertiliser for their cultivations and a number of protests have also been organised by farmers’ organisations and various parties demanding that the Government provide a solution to the fertiliser shortage.


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