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‘Fertiliser mafia bigger than Sigiriya’ blamed for policy failure

02 Dec 2021

BY Buddhika Samaraweera Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has claimed that a chemical fertiliser mafia larger than the Sigiriya rock fortress, with the support of the banks and the media, ensured that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ban on chemical fertiliser imports was lifted after only six months. “It is the misfortune of the nation that we could not convince the society and the people about the importance of this historic decision. As a Government we have to take the responsibility for that. However, it must be said that we had to fight with a chemical mafia larger than the Sigiriya rock,” he said, speaking during an event on Tuesday (30 November). The Government said that it would revoke Extraordinary Gazette No. 2226/48 of 6 May 2021, which banned the importation of chemical fertilisers and agrochemicals including pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides/weedicides, and to thereby allow the private sector to import the same, with effect from 24 November. However, according to the official website of the Government Printing Department, a gazette notification has, as of last evening (1), not been issued revoking the previous gazette notification. He also blamed the media, claiming it provided negative coverage to the chemical fertiliser import ban. “Before the ban on chemical fertilisers was lifted, the media went to economic centres and reported that the prices of vegetables had gone up. It was shown on television that a kilogramme of carrot, potato, and sugar was Rs. 500 each. At that time, it was reported that vegetables such as carrots and potatoes have become smaller in size, but with the lifting of the ban, there is no such thing,” he said. He went on to criticise the banking sector too, stating: “When the import of chemical fertilisers and agrochemicals was banned, private banks said that they did not even have the dollar reserves to import essential food items. However, soon after the lifting of the ban, they have now issued letters of credit (LCs) for the import of chemical fertilisers.” He added that with the lifting of the ban on the import of chemical fertilisers and agrochemicals, the quality of vegetables, which was said to have gone down in the recent past, has risen again, while the US dollar reserves that were said to be in deficiency have suddenly come out of private banks. A proposal to ban the use and importation of chemical fertiliser, 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 on 6 May 2021. However, throughout the past few months, farmers in several areas were seen charging that there is a serious shortage of fertiliser for their cultivations and a number of protests have also been organised by farmers’ organisations and various parties demanding that the Government provide a solution to the fertiliser shortage.


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