Rs.12.8bn funding proposal from Poland for organic fertiliser production in SL

From left: Senaka Rajapaksha - Poland Delegation, Damian Puczynski - Poland Delegation, Colombo Commercial Fertilizers Ltd Chairman Methsiri Wijegunawardena, Shasheendra Rajapaksha - Minister of promoting production and regulating supply of organic fertiliser and advance technology agriculture, Regina Purpurea Fundus President Hubert Drabik, Radostaw Warowny - Poland Delegation and Sebastian Sawczvic - Poland Delegation

• Promises public-private partnership to power agricultural revolution in country

Colombo Commercial Fertilizers Ltd (CCFL) entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Polish venture capital firm Regina Purpurea Fundus (RPF)  yesterday, to establish preliminary parameters to form a joint venture for an organic fertiliser manufacturing operation in Sri Lanka. 

This agreement sets in motion key strategic actions in the agriculture development policy of the country’s national policy framework (NPF) Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour, which calls for the sector’s steady transition into organic fertiliser produced domestically. 

This immensely promising public-private partnership (PPP) was formalised in the presence of Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Agriculture Ministry Secretary Prof. Udith K. Jayasinghe, State Minister Shasheendra Rajapaksa and Secretary to State Minister M.N. Ranasinghe. 

The MoU was signed by Polish entrepreneur Hubert Drabik, Founder and President of the board of RPF and CCFL Chairman Methsiri Wijegunawardana. 

“CCFL is a state-owned organisation anchored to a 150-year legacy of quality and excellence,” added Rajapaksa. 
“The mission of CCFL is to provide superior fertilisers to farmers across Sri Lanka and has hard earned the trust and loyalty of local farmers by ensuring the delivery of benchmarked quality fertilisers to meet their needs. With CCFL’s guaranteed quality assurance, we can be assured that this promising PPP will greatly contribute to the sustainable growth of Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector.”RPF is a Polish venture capital consortium working with development-oriented governments and organisations to invest in a wide range of initiatives aimed at sustainable economic growth, both domestically and internationally. Established in 2004 as a family foundation, with a mission to support entrepreneurs across municipal and social economy as well as commercial business development, RPF is supported by the Polish Agriculture Ministry, Polish Chamber of Commerce and a number of state banks of Poland. 

RPF is also backed by one of the key national clusters of Poland – the Mazovia Cluster ICT as its ICT partner, connecting global resources and expertise across six R&D institutions and three investment funds to power over 400 Polish and international organisations. Anchored to these strong financial, technical and technological foundations, RPF has invested globally in projects such as water purification, waste-to-energy, organic agriculture and related supply chains across Europe as well as Asia, bringing to the table capital, technology and knowledge to mark the start of a timely and crucial transformation in the Sri Lankan agriculture sector. 

“We commend Sri Lanka’s bold approach to sustainably transition into organic agriculture under the visionary leadership of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and are grateful for this opportunity to establish preliminary parameters in what promises to be a mutually beneficial partnership,” Drabik commented.

“We believe this is simply the start of bilateral cooperation between Poland and Sri Lanka and look forward to a successful and progressive joint venture.”

A comprehensive due diligence investigation of the investment proposal and funding capacity will be carried out by CCFL with mutual cooperation from RPF to its satisfaction within the next two weeks, followed by Cabinet approval of the project. All parties will then enter into a more comprehensive joint venture agreement with detailed conditions mutually agreed upon within three weeks from yesterday.