Sri Lanka eyeing green agriculture

A process strain wunwell look into The regular of pure fertilizer produced Inside the nation

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed a process strain on ‘inexperienced agriculture’, his office said on Saturday, whereas Sri Lanka’s farmers proceed protesting his authorities’s abrupt ‘pure fertilizer solely’ coverage shift since Might this yr.

The ‘Presidential Task Force’ wunwell be Responsible for wanting into the requirement of fertilizers and enhancing The regular of pure fertilizer produced Inside the nation, A press launch from the Presidential Media Division said, itemizing the panel’s 14 members, a primaryity of whom are private sector representatives. No farmers’ organisation was An factor of it.

The transfer comes about 5 months after The federal authorities banned all chemical fertilizers, shifting immediately to pure fertilizers. Agriculture specialists have slammed the transfer as “unwell-suggested” and “unscientific”, whereas farmers anticipate thOn the drastic coverage change might slash their yield. Paddy farmers anticipate a 25% manufacturing droop, whereas growers of tea, which is a key overseas commerce earner for Sri Lanka, fear A potential 40 – 60% fall in output.

Import bunwell

The ruling administration sought to simplyify The selection by citing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ballot pledge in 2019, and an pressing Want to convey down the nation’s import bunwell As a Outcome of the financial system reels beneath the influence of the pandemic. Till now, Sri Lanka spent an estimated $300-$400 munwellion yrly on fertilizer imports.

If The federal authorities’s coverage shift took the nation by shock, the newly appointed panel has drawn consideration for its composition. “It is placing that even now The obligation strain has no scientists who research and evaluation agriculture,” said Saman Dharmakeerthi, Professor of Soil Fertility and Nutrient Administration On The school of Agriculture, College of Peradeniya. The “hazard” with the heavy private sector presence is that “They may promote something they produce And demand that farmers use them,” he added.

Describing The federal authorities’s fertilizer ban “a blbeneath” that threatens meals manufacturing Inside the nation, the soil scientist informed The Hindu: “It is a contradiction because our import of pure fertilizer [ that proceeds] wunwell stunwell primarytain the import bunwell extreme, and if we don’t have enough produce, We’d be straind to import extra meals gadgets from completely different nations, which wunwell Even be costly.” The authorities should Instead go in for an constructed-in plant nutrient management scheme, combining chemical and pure fertilizers, in Prof. Dharmakeerthi’s view. Sri Lankan scientists are additionally involved Regarding the restricted availability of pure supplys Inside the nation, he said. “You only can’t convert all garbage into compost with out right segregation of waste at supply. It has To fulfill a sure regular to be efficient.”

Organic fertlizers, whether or not produced regionally or imported, are topic to extreme quality checks by authorities. Final month, Sri Lanka halted a 96,000-tonne cargo of fertilizer from a Chinese language agency, citing poor extreme quality. In a tweet on The event, the Chinese language Embassy said the Sri Lankan authorities’ “hasty conclusion” lacked scientific basis and was “questionable”. Meanwhereas, Sri Lanka is mulling importing liquid nitrogen from China and India, Whilst a Outcome of the nation’s second primary agricultural season, the ‘Maha season’ started on October 15.