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Maha begins without fertiliser 

06 Oct 2021

 
  • Farmers’ Federation slams Govt. for fertiliser delay 
  • Fertiliser from India by 12 October 
  • China unhappy their fertiliser rejected 
  BY Buddhika Samaraweera  The All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation (ACFF) has charged that the Agriculture Ministry and other relevant authorities have so far failed to formulate a programme to provide organic fertiliser to farmers despite the Maha season having commenced already. Speaking to The Morning, ACFF Convenor Namal Karunaratne claimed that although Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has stated that they would take steps to provide fertiliser without any shortage during the Maha season, no practical programme has yet been prepared in this regard. “Recently, we heard Aluthgamage saying that action will be taken to provide fertiliser to farmers without any shortage from the Maha season, but the fact of the matter is that the Maha season has already begun. So how can a subject minister who does not even know when the Maha season begins, make a plan for this?” he queried. Karunaratne further said that due to the lack of timely provision of fertiliser, there could be a risk of cultivating only for their own consumption, which could eventually lead to food shortages throughout the country.  “If farmers continue to not get the fertiliser they need on time, they will not be able to grow crops for sale. Instead, they will grow crops only for their own consumption. As a result, there may be a food shortage in the country,” he claimed. In the recent past, farmers in several areas were seen complaining that they could not carry out farming activities due to the lack of fertiliser. Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage pledged that Indian-manufactured nano-nitrogen organic fertiliser will be made available for farmers by the 12 October, stating that Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) laboratory tests have confirmed that the fertiliser samples sent from India are suitable for use in Sri Lanka.  He added that discussions are currently underway with the Indian High Commission in Colombo regarding the logistics of importing the fertiliser and that it would be imported via air freight in the event of a delay.  “All the Indian fertiliser samples have been approved and we have already had discussions on how to bring down the fertiliser as a matter of importance. We had a discussion yesterday, and will be discussing it today as well,” said Aluthgamage. This was stated while answering a question which was posed to him in Parliament yesterday (5). The Government had earlier decided to import organic fertiliser from a Chinese company, but following tests carried out by local testing agencies on the samples of organic fertiliser from the said company in which the presence of harmful bacteria was confirmed, the Agriculture Ministry had decided not to import the fertiliser from the relevant company. Meanwhile, it was reported that the Chinese Embassy had recently expressed its displeasure about the rejection of the fertiliser by the Government of Sri Lanka. The Ambassador had written to Aluthgamage, stating that this decision could negatively impact China-Sri Lanka relations, to which Aluthgamage had written a conciliatory reply explaining the decision of the Government. Responding to a question posed to him in this regard in Parliament yesterday, Aluthgamage said the Government would never import fertiliser that is harmful to humans, animals, and plants and will only import fertiliser that meets the standards imposed by the SLSI.  Aluthgamage, Promoting the Production and Regulating the Supply of Organic Fertiliser, and Paddy and Grains, Organic Foods, Vegetables, Fruits, Chillies, Onion and Potato Cultivation Promoting, Seed Production, and Advanced Technology Agriculture State Minister Shasheendra Rajapaksa and State Ministry Secretary Nihal Ranasinghe, and Agriculture Ministry Secretary Prof. Udith K. Jayasinghe-Mudalige were not available for comment as to why the fertiliser was not supplied to farmers prior to the commencement of the Maha season, as claimed by Karunaratne.  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.


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