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ITAK MP demands compensation for ‘organic’ victims

12 Jan 2022

  • Notes East farmers’ harvest below half of usual 
Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam yesterday (12) demanded that the Government pay compensation to farmers suffering from last year’s organic agriculture policy, claiming that farmers have not been able to produce even half of their usual harvest during the Maha cultivation season.  “Yesterday, we had a meeting with farmers from the Kalkudah area in the Batticaloa District in the Eastern Province. They said that usually they are able to obtain a harvest of about 60 bags, each weighing about 65 kg, from an acre of farmland that has used chemical fertiliser. However, this season, farmers are not expecting even 10 or 15 bags,” said Rasamanickam, while addressing the media.  He questioned why a Government that was able to pay millions of US dollars in compensation to a “ship of organic fertiliser that nobody wanted” is unable to pay due compensation for farmers whose crops have been destroyed due to the chemical fertiliser ban.  Last month, the Government said that it would pay $ 6.7 million to China’s Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co. Ltd. for the controversial organic shipment by the company which was rejected by the country’s authorities last year.  A proposal to ban the use and importation of chemical fertilisers and agrochemicals, such as pesticides and herbicides/weedicides, was submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the same was granted approval, following which the relevant gazette notification was issued in May 2021. However, the Finance Ministry, through Gazette Notification No. 2238/45 of 31 July 2021, has relaxed regulations on the import of chelated (a type of bonding of ions and molecules to metal ions) minerals and micronutrients for the purpose of producing fertiliser. Following this, the Agriculture Ministry stated that it hopes to import a total of 3.1 million litres of nano nitrogen liquid fertiliser to supply the 1.4 million hectares of paddy, corn, and vegetable farmland in the country. In September 2021, the Government also approved for the tea industry to import nitrogen-based fertiliser.  The Government has assured farmers that adequate compensation will be provided if farmers face a loss of harvest and thus, income, due to this policy. However, farmers, professionals from a number of industries, and economists fear a looming food security crisis due to predicted losses of harvest. Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has also recently stated that compensation will only be given to farmers who practised organic farming methods as instructed by the Government including using the four types of fertiliser provided by the authorities, which has drawn heavy criticism from farmers’ and workers’ unions.


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