• The real situation is that the government does not have funds to import fertilizer

By Yohan Perera 

Sri Lanka’s tea industry will fall as a result of the government’s decision to ban the importation of chemical fertilizer, an SJB MP said yesterday.  

SJB MP Gayantha Karunatilleka who is a tea industrialist by profession told a press conference yesterday that Sri Lanka’s annual tea production will be reduced to 150 million Kgs from the usual 300 million Kgs with the non-availability of chemical fertilizer. 

“The revenue owned by the industrialists will be reduced as well because of the current situation. This will result in the fall of the tea industry. It is the smallholders that are going to be affected most,” he said. 

“Tea bushes are used to chemical fertilizer rather than organic fertilizer,” he added. 

Also, he said the country will be pushed into a famine as farmers who cultivate other food crops will be affected as well with the government’s decision. 

“The real situation is that the government does not have funds to import chemical fertilizer. Therefore steps should be taken to inform the reality to the people.” he said.