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President warned of agriculture authorities sabotaging organic drive

17 Sep 2021

By Buddhika Samaraweera Local organic fertiliser manufacturers have alleged that the authorities in charge of the agriculture sector are misleading President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, local organic fertiliser manufacturers, and farmers, in order to create a conducive environment for the importation of organic fertiliser. In a letter to President Rajapaksa, they have highlighted the Agriculture Ministry, the Agriculture Department, the 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 Ministry, and the Fertiliser Secretariat as the main culprits. They have claimed that the aforesaid institutions are misleading not only the President but also farmers, by telling the President that all the work required to supply organic fertiliser to farmers has been completed, despite farmers being helpless due to the unavailability of fertiliser for their cultivations. The letter has been signed by Biogenic Green Technology Research Institute Director Dr. Kasun Amal Tharaka and Sassrika Lanka Director Thulitha Sihalidu. In the letter, they further stated that these institutions are unnecessarily holding various meetings and misleading local fertiliser producers and farmers to create an environment where they would have to depend only on imported organic fertilisers. The letter claimed: “In this situation, the local producers who had joined the production of organic fertiliser on large and medium scales have now become helpless since they cannot sell their products and many of them have stopped manufacturing activities. Even though steps have been taken to import organic fertiliser, it has also been hampered by the presence of microorganisms in the fertiliser samples, and the lack of fertiliser which will occur due to this will in turn cause great inconvenience to the farmers, the people, and the Government in the coming ‘Maha’ season. Also, the Fertiliser Secretariat is to spend over $ 100 million on these imports. In addition, it costs about $ 60 million to import the stock of fertiliser that is currently being prepared for immediate import. Despite the willingness of local producers and farmers to produce this fertiliser locally, the government programme will in the future be unpopular with the public through the importation of any fertiliser that has not been used previously.” Accordingly, they have further requested President Rajapaksa to take these factors into consideration and to work with local farmers and local organic fertiliser producers to work out a mechanism to expedite the production and supply of organic fertiliser for the coming season and the next few seasons. They have also claimed that by trusting the Agriculture Ministry, the Agriculture Department, the 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 Ministry, and the Fertiliser Secretariat furthermore, farmers as well as the public will face a major crisis in the coming season. A proposal to ban the use and importation of chemical fertiliser and agrochemicals such as pesticides and herbicides/weedicides was submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers by President Rajapaksa and the same was granted approval, following which the relevant gazette notification was issued in May 2021. It was later reported that the 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 Ministry has instructed two state-owned companies to purchase and distribute organic fertiliser produced locally by various companies. Speaking to The Morning on an earlier occasion, 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 Ministry Secretary Nihal Ranasinghe said that Colombo Commercial Fertilisers Ltd. and Ceylon Fertiliser Company Ltd. have been instructed to purchase the organic fertiliser produced by local companies and to distribute them. When questioned as to whether the stocks of organic fertiliser manufactured locally would be sufficient to fulfil the fertiliser requirement of the country, Ranasinghe said that if the locally produced organic fertiliser is not sufficient, action would be taken to import organic fertiliser, adding that several identified organic fertiliser-related products have, as of the end of August, been ordered.


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