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‘Rice shortage in 2022 due to farmer shortage’

21 Jun 2021

By Dinitha Rathnayake   Sri Lanka could face a rice shortage in the year 2022 due to a severe shortage of agriculture sector workers, the All Ceylon Farmers Federation Head Namal Karunaratne warned yesterday (20). Speaking to The Morning, Karunaratne said farmers across the country are facing many difficulties due to the shortage of fertiliser, and most of them are not willing to engage in farming during next year’s Yala season. “We cannot engage in farming without fertiliser. We can cultivate crops only if there is fertiliser. Fertiliser provided by the Government is not up to a standard and the farmers have to buy proper fertilisers from shops for a higher price.” Karunaratne also said that according to agriculture scientists in the research field, it was revealed that the percentage of paddy harvest would reduce by a percentage of 21.5-31% if the fertilisers are not used. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has stopped the importation of chemical fertilisers, due to the negative consequences caused on human lives through pollution of lakes, canals, and groundwater outweighing the profit. Karunaratne added: “In the year 2020, we had a record amount of harvest and 783,000 hectares of rice had been cultivated out of a target of 846,000 hectares, higher than last year’s 752,000 hectares. Sri Lanka produced 3.051 million metric tonnes of paddy in 2019 in the Maha season and another 1.751 million metric tonnes in the minor Yala season. Every year we expect 35 lakh tonnes of paddy harvest. However, it was exceeded in 2020. We got more than 50 lakh tonnes of paddy harvest . But now the country is losing its farmers who supply rice day by day, they will only cultivate rice for their family in the near future.” Accordingly, the Government should pay compensation for the farmers, Karunaratne added. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said that focusing on organic farming for a healthy generation has become an urgent need and it is important to create a systematic programme for this purpose. He stressed the matter at a meeting with experts on Organic Cultivations and Organic fertiliser held at Temple Trees last Friday (18). He had also highlighted the need for a systematic programme to educate the farming community, as a misconception on the initiative has spread among farmers. Officials were instructed to take a decision in consultation with the relevant Ministries to launch a programme to introduce children and the people to organic farming centring on schools and temples. Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage, who also participated at the meeting, said there is no issue concerning Maha season and the Government is trying to teach farmers to work with Organic Cultivations and Organic fertilisers.


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