• This imported rice is more harmful than rice grown in Sri Lanka

By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera  

Sri Lanka has had to import nearly 600,000 MT of substandard and poisonous rice as a result of the failed decision to promote organic farming, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said yesterday.  

He told Parliament that Sri Lanka has imported nearly 600,000 MT of rice from countries where harmful chemicals such as Monocrotophos and Glyphosate, which were banned in Sri Lanka, are used for paddy cultivation.   

“This imported rice is more harmful than rice grown in Sri Lanka. Chemicals such as Monocrotophos, Glyphosate are not used for paddy cultivation in Sri Lanka. However, just because we wanted to promote organic farming based on impractical advice from certain parties, we have to import substandard and poisonous rice from other countries to meet the shortfall of paddy harvest,” he said.  

Responding to a question raised by parliamentarian Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera, the Minister said those so-called experts and doctors who provided wrong and impractical advice on organic farming are silent today.  
He said the ban of chemical fertilizer was the main cause of the debacle the country was facing today.