Courtesy Hiru News The President briefed the farmers’ representatives on the measures to be taken by the government to address the use of organic fertilizers. The President has pointed out that this was not a sudden decision and this initiative was launched to fulfil a promise made in his Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour” policy statement, […]

Courtesy Adaderana District Farmers’ representatives on behalf of 1.1 million farmers across the island, have urged President Gotabaya Rajapaksa not to reverse the steps taken to use organic fertilizer, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said today. The farmers’ representatives have highlighted that it was their absolute duty and responsibility to return to the traditional farming […]

Courtesy Hiru News Buddhi Marambe, Senior Professor in the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya stated that it is not possible to get high yields from paddy and tea cultivations by applying only organic fertilizer. Meanwhile, farmers in several parts of the country engaged in protests today (30) demanding the provision […]

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත් කාබනික පොහොර පමණක් යෙදීමෙන් වී සහ තේ වගාවන් වලින් වැඩි අස්වනු ලබා ගැනීමට නොහැකි බව පේරාදෙණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ කෘෂිකර්ම පිඨයේ භෝග විද්‍යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මහාචාර්ය බුද්ධි මාරඹේ ප්‍රකාශ කළා. මේ අතර අදත් දිවයිනේ ප්‍රදේශ කිහිපයක ගොවින් පොහොර ලබා දෙන ලෙස ඉල්ලා උද්ඝෝෂණ වල නිරත වුණා. මේ අතර, කුරුණෑගල දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ පන්නල සහ […]

කතුවැකිය අනුග්‍රහය ඩේලි මිරර් (google translation) රසායනික පොහොර තහනම සම්බන්ධයෙන් බලධාරීන්ගේ සහ ගොවීන් අතර ඇති කෝලාහලය අපට මතක් කර දෙන්නේ සිංහල ජනකථාවක්වන හතර බීරි කතාව” හි සඳහන් පරිදි බිහිරි මිනිසෙකු තවත් බිහිරි මිනිසෙකුගෙන් ප්‍රශ්නයක් අසන අතර එම ප්‍රශ්නයට කිසිදු සම්බන්ධයක් නැති පිළිතුරක් ලබා දෙන අන්දමයි . රසායනික පොහොර ආනයනය කිරීම තහනම් කිරීමට රජය ගත් තීරණය […]

The Editorial Courtesy The Daily Mirror The row between the authorities and the farmers over the ban on chemical fertilizer reminds us the Sinhala folktale Hathara Beeri Kathawa” in which a deaf man askes another deaf man a question to which the latter gives an answer which is nothing to do with the question. Here, […]

තිසර සමල් එප්පාවල  කෘෂිකාර්මික කටයුතු සඳහා රසායනික පොහොර වෙනුවට කාබනික පොහොර භාවිතය ප්‍රචලිත කිරීමට රජය ගත් තීන්දුවට  දිගින් දිගටම ගොවීන්ගෙන් මතුවන විරෝධය හේතුවෙන් ඒ සඳහා ගත යුතු විසඳුම් පිලිබඳව අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ ගොවි නායකයින් සමඟ සාකච්ජාවක් රාජ්‍යය අමාත්‍යය දුමින්ද දිසානායක මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් පැවැත්විණි. එහිදී ගොවි නායකයින්  පෙන්වා දුන්නේ වත්මන් රජයේ   තීරණයක් වන රසායනික පොහොර ගෙන්වීම […]

පී.කේ.බාලචන්ද්‍රන් / Ceylon Today  (translation) කොළඹ, ජූනි 28: දකුණු ආසියානු කලාපයේ කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය සාර්ථක කර ගත් බංග්ලාදේශය, පොහොර ප්‍රතිපත්තිය සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අනුගමනය කළ යුතු ආදර්ශය විය හැකිය. කාබනික පොහොර භාවිතය ප්‍රවර්ධනය කරන අතරම රසායනික පොහොර භාවිතය නියාමනය කිරීමට බංග්ලාදේශය සමත් වී තිබේ. වෙනත් වචන වලින් කිවහොත්, කෘෂිකාර්මික නිෂ්පාදනය පහත වැටෙන්නේ නැති බව සහතික කරමින් පරිසරය […]

By P.K.Balachandran/Ceylon Today Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, June 28: Bangladesh, which has made a success of agriculture in the South Asian region, could be the model Sri Lanka should adopt for its fertilizer policy. To an appreciable extent Bangladesh has succeeded in regulating the use of chemical fertilizers while promoting the use of organic fertilizers. In […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The President is effectively hollowing out 25% of the earnings of these already cash-strapped communities. His gamble is pushing a good part of Sri Lanka’s farmers, who are living on the fringes of poverty, back into abject poverty. This is a crime! To be blunt, this is a crime worse than […]

Media Release We, hereby, vehemently condemn the derogatory and misleading remarks made by Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya – who seems to be a consummate politician and is a medical trade union leader – during a recent media release, in which he challenged the Agricultural officers’ knowledge on organic agriculture. Furthermore, we believe that his conduct is […]

Courtesy Adaderana With the ban on the import of chemical fertilizer, the Ministry of Agriculture has identified the need to take immediate action to supply the required organic fertilizer for the 2021/2022 Maha Season. Currently, there are 27 local organic fertilizer manufacturers licensed by the National Fertilizer Secretariat Office. Considering the production capacity of 10 […]

By Prof.Kirthi Tennakone, National Institute of Fundamental Studies(ktenna@yahoo.co.uk ) Discussions on chemical fertilisers aroused by the belief they are harmful and degrade the environment worry farmers. The crux of the confusion appears to be that many have forgotten the science learnt in the eighth grade. At school every kid learns that plants grow when green […]

Text and Pix By Dinasena Ratugamage  Courtesy The Island Ongoing lockdowns have dealt the pumpkin and ash pumpkin farmers in Kilinochchi a crippling blow; they are unable to sell their produce, says President of the Pooneryn Farmers’ Association S Arluananthan. Stocks of pumpkin and ash pumpkin had been lying in sheds for over three weeks, […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, May 24 (The Island): The Sri Lanka Agricultural Economics Association (SAEC), which is the professional body representing the agricultural economists of Sri Lanka, has written to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa express concerns over the ban on the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The letter in full:  The Sri Lanka Agricultural Economics Association […]

Courtesy Adaderana The government has decided to purchase stocks of vegetables the farmers had brought to the Dedicated Economic Centre in Dambulla today (May 14), says Matale District MP Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon. The decision has been taken during a meeting with Minister of Public Services, Provincial Councils & Local Government Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, Prime Minister’s […]

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

By Prof Rohan Rajapakse Courtesy The Island Emeritus Professor of Agriculture Biology UNIVERSITY OF RUHUNA and Former Executive Director Sri Lanka Council of Agriculture Research Policy Sri Lanka is at present engaged in a Total Agro chemical ban as decided by the Government. There are two aspects; the first is the ban on Chemical Fertilizers […]

Ananda Wickramasinghe  The Sri Lankan tea plantation industry is facing serious challenges that call for unbiased analyses of the current status and bold rethinking of the solutions required if it is to continue to hold its place as one of the nation’s leading sources of foreign exchange. What we are witnessing presently is an industry […]

Courtesy Adaderana The national program titled ‘Jeeva Thuru Udanaya,’ organized by the State Ministry of Agriculture to make the general public aware of the nutritional and economic value of the Moringa (drumstick) tree, is expected to kick off tomorrow (April 17). Manusath Derana, the CSR initiative of TV Derana, will join hands with this program […]

By Sugeeswara Senadhira/Daily News Colombo, April 2: Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his telephone conversation with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa earlier this week, said that China can lend a hand to Sri Lanka in the eradication of poverty adding that China succeeded in ending extreme poverty among 99 million people. President Rajapaksa said that […]

Courtesy Adaderana President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today (February 05) inaugurated the construction work of the 28km-long ‘Irrigation Tunnel’ which will be the longest irrigation tunnel in South Asia upon completion. The event took place at Palugaswewa in Anuradhapura, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said. The tunnel will be built under the first phase of the North […]

Courtesy Xinhua COLOMBO, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka’s coconut plantations stand to increase revenue by 60 percent with the introduction of tea as an undergrowth crop, state media citing a government official reported here Saturday. “About 3,000 tea plants can be grown on an acre of coconut plantation, which can increase the annual income […]

Courtesy The Daily News Kitul to be planted in landslide prone areas:Strict laws to stop felling Palmyra trees:Two million home gardens to receive 4 million Coconut saplings: President plans to promote Kitul and Palmyra into main export crops- Time: 18:28 President Gotabaya Rajapaksa revealed his intention to develop Kitul(Fishtail Palms) and Palmyra Palms plantation into main export […]

by Sustainable Pulse Bayer-Monsanto have announced that the company will make a total payment of $10.1 billion to $10.9 billion (€9.1 billion to €9.8 billion) to settle the non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Roundup litigation in the U.S.. Roundup is the most sold glyphosate-based herbicide in the world. The settlement covers approximately 75% of the current Roundup litigation involving approximately 125,000 […]

by Malaka Rodrigo  Courtesy Mongabay.com A new type of forest ecology has been discovered from the ancient kingdom of Polonnaruwa in north-central Sri Lanka, centered around the irrigation canals abandoned there more than 700 years ago. The unique new forest type closely resembles the riverine forests that are found alongside rivers and other bodies of water, […]

By Toma Mochizuki Courtesy The Japan Times ASUKA, NARA PREF. – In a small western Japan village known for little more than its ancient burial mounds, an asparagus-loving Sri Lankan farmer has put her heart and soul into showing she belongs, despite sticking out like a green thumb. Udara Kametani, 36, has grown a wide variety […]

by Malaka Rodrigo  Courtesy Mongabay Home gardening has boomed in Sri Lanka as residents under lockdown look to grow their own fresh fruits and vegetables. The government, which has championed home gardening in the past, launched a program to support a million home gardens by issuing 2 million seed packs and offering technical advice to the […]

Courtesy Adaderana President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has considered the possibility of using digital technology as a medium to exchange data among the farmers, consumers, and suppliers, stated President’s Media Division. Secretaries to the Ministries of Agriculture, Internal Trade, Consumer Welfare, Plantation Industries, and Export Agriculture and several other officials including officials of Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a guaranteed price for 14 main crops of Yala Season with the intention of strengthening the income of local farmers by uplifting the country’s agriculture sector. Minister Bandula Gunawardana stated this addressing the media briefing to announce Cabinet decisions today (23). Accordingly, the Cabinet has also given […]