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'Gota ignored my objections to the fertiliser ban'

07 Sep 2022

  • Former Agriculture Minister Mahindananda claims former Prez told him ‘not to worry’
  • Says he did not reveal this all this time because GR was President
BY Buddhika Samaraweera Revealing that he had objected to the decision taken by then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to ban the import of chemical fertilisers in April 2021, former Minister of Agriculture and incumbent Government MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage claimed, however, that Rajapaksa had assured him there was no cause for concern, as a Presidential Task Force (PTF) was to be appointed regarding the matter, and that there was a separate State Minister concerning the subject. Speaking in Parliament yesterday (6), he said that he had submitted a Cabinet paper to import chemical fertilisers on 27 April 2021, and that Rajapaksa had submitted another Cabinet paper to impose a ban on the import of chemical fertilisers on the same day. He also said that following the submission of the relevant Cabinet paper by Rajapaksa, he (Aluthgamage) had expressed to Rajapaksa his opposition to the imposition of the ban.  “I told the President not to do it at that time, and requested to give us some more time. The President then told me that a PTF would be appointed for the purpose of implementing the ban. He said that the fertiliser issue affects the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Environment, and that those ministries were talking about the impact of the ban. He also said that there was a separate State Minister with regard to the matter, and told me to, therefore, not worry,” explained Aluthgamage. However, he claimed that the PTF had not met, even for a single day, while neither the Health Ministry, the Environment Ministry, nor the relevant State Minister (then-State Minister of Promoting the Production and Regulating the Supply of Organic Fertiliser, and Paddy and Grains, Organic Food, Vegetable, Fruit, Chillies, Onion and Potato Cultivation Promoting, Seed Production, and Advanced Technology Agriculture Shasheendra Rajapaksa) had not spoken a word about this programme.  “When the President told me not to worry, I thought that this was not something that was relevant to my subject, and therefore, I went ahead with this. Finally, the PTF had not met even for a single day, and neither the Health Ministry, the Environment Ministry, nor the said State Minister had uttered a word about this. Therefore, I had to stand up for President Rajapaksa.  “I did not say this until now, as Rajapaksa was the President. There is no politician in this country who has received as much backlash as myself, and whose effigies have been burnt as much as those of mine in recent times. I provided the birth certificate for someone else’s brainchild, and that is why all this happened to me,” he claimed. Commenting on the situation that arose as a result of the ban on chemical fertiliser, Aluthgamage said that it only affected the 2021 Maha cultivation season, as the fertiliser needed for the Yala season had already been imported by the time of the imposition of the ban.  He said that he would admit that the Government made a mistake by banning the import of chemical fertiliser, and added, however, that the Government took steps to correct it. He also said that there is nothing wrong with the chemical fertiliser-free agriculture policy, but that what went wrong was that the Government had tried to implement it too soon. Sri Lanka's agriculture sector, mainly paddy cultivation, has suffered a major setback since April 2021, with the Cabinet of Ministers decision to ban the import and use of chemical fertilisers and agrochemicals, as per the said proposal made by Rajapaksa. Since then, farmers have been charging that they have not been able to get the expected harvest, despite the use of organic fertilisers provided by the Government. Amidst strong opposition from farmers and agronomists, the Government lifted the ban in November of last year, but there is still a shortage of fertilisers and agrochemicals in the country.


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