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Glyphosate import ban lifted: Agri Ministry to assess needs of farmers

14 Aug 2022

 
  • Tight controls to remain
  • Sanity has prevailed: Obeyesekere
   By Asiri Fernando The Ministry of Agriculture is currently studying requests by several farming and crop cultivation organisations to permit the use of the glyphosate weedicide and will issue recommendations in the coming months, The Sunday Morning learns. The move by the Ministry of Agriculture comes as the 2014 ban on the weedicide was lifted last week by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies. According to Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera, the Ministry has received requests from several agricultural organisations seeking to expand the tightly-regulated use of the weedicide.  “We are currently evaluating their requests and, based on our findings, we may grant limited use of the weedicide in the future,” Amaraweera told The Sunday Morning. Department of Agriculture Registrar of Pesticides S.N.L. Rathnaweera, the regulator for the use of weedicides, said that at present the lifting of the ban would see glyphosate only being issued to export crop growers such as tea, coconut, and rubber plantations. “There are strong controls in place. We permit the application of glyphosate only twice a year and it can only be imported by the State-run CEYPETCO. The import quantity will be decided in consultation with the Plantation Ministry and other stakeholders,” Rathnaweera told The Sunday Morning. Last year, the removal of the ban caused controversy when then Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered the removal of then Registrar of Pesticides Dr. J.A. Sumith, claiming he had “illegally” issued a gazette lifting the ban on glyphosate and four other agrochemicals. Aluthgamage then moved to revoke the ban. The export crop industry has long complained that the blanket ban on the weedicide has adversely affected their crop yield. Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Planters’ Association General Secretary S.K.L. Obeyesekere welcomed the move by the Government and called on the authorities to not repeat the mistake of making ad hoc policy decisions. “We welcome this decision. It is long overdue, but it seems sanity has finally prevailed,” Obeyesekere said, adding that they had requested the Plantation Ministry and other stakeholders to create an industry body which could be consulted when major policy decisions were being made.  However, Obeyesekere pointed out that it would be hard to recover from the damage the blanket ban had caused over the last six years.  


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