Govt. says mechanism in place to supply organic fertilizer required for Maha season

• Dismisses claims of possible food shortages and famine due to organic fertilizer policy 

A mechanism has been formulated to provide organic fertilizer required for the Maha Season to farmers without any shortage, government officials of line institutions said. Accordingly, they said the entire process including farmer awareness, technical assistance and financial assistance is being continued uninterrupted.

This was revealed at a virtual media briefing held at the Presidential Media Centre yesterday.

State officials noted that although the government has taken steps to manufacture local organic fertilizer, manufacturing the fertilizer quantity required by farmers was hampered due to the current situation.

Accordingly, it was revealed that arrangements have been made to import organic fertilizer of high international standards to address any shortage and also use bio-pesticides that are covered by the Pesticides Act.

The officials pointed out that a total cost of Rs.26.62 billion will be spent for the entire process including the required fertilizers for the Maha Season, local production, imports, subsidies, technical assistance and awareness.
They also said that with this initiative, a considerable amount out of the Rs.22.71 billion spent on the importation of chemical fertilizers would remain with the farmers in our country.

Responding to questions raised by journalists on the challenges faced by the tea industry with the use of organic fertilizers, the officials said the Tea Research Institute already examined the imported fertilizer samples and will recommend the most suitable organic fertilizer for the tea industry in the future.

They also assured that farmers would never be isolated at any cost and further stressed that there would be no food shortage or risk of famine in the country as a result of the organic fertilizer policy, as claimed by some media and various groups.