Courtesy Adaderana In order to switch to organic fertilisers, Sri Lanka yet again relied on a Chinese company, only to get deceived in the end as the organic fertilizer supplied could not pass the two rounds of the National Plant Quarantine Services (NPQS) test due to high contamination.  Moreover, the Chinese firm also pressurized Sri […]

Courtesy Adaderana The gazette notification pertaining to the lifting of the ban imposed on the import of the herbicide Glyphosate has been sent to the Government Printer, says the Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Gunadasa Samarasinghe. The Minister of Agriculture had decided to lift the ban on Glyphosate following inquiries made from various sectors […]

උත්තර ලංකා සභාගයේ අනුරාධපුර සමුළුව ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ රජය විසින් සිදුකළ විශාල වරදක් වන රසායනික පොහොර තහනම් කිරීම සඳහා උපදෙස් ලබාදුන්නේ කවුරුන්දැයි යන්න අදටත් අභිරහසක් බව පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමයේ නායක නීතිඥ උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහතා පවසයි. මෙය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට පෙර   තමන් සහ විමල් වීරවංශ මන්ත්‍රීවරයා මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් දැඩි ව විරෝධය පළ කළ බව  ඒ මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් […]

KANIKA GUPTA, Courtesy Nikkei Asia As millions suffer from hunger, officials promise ‘gigantic’ farm modernization A Sri Lankan farmer gestures to show the ideal height of the plants in his paddy in July, as growers struggle amid the economic crisis and the aftermath of a ban on chemical fertilizers.   © Reuters COLOMBO — Sri […]

Chandre Dharmawardana I have gone thorough the following U-tube video and I am sad to see this kind of unsubstantiated claims misleading the public. This is just one of many. [ටවුම මැද්දේ වගා කරන, ගල් පොළොවේ කුඹුරු කරන, ගොවි රජාගේ විශ්වකර්ම වැඩ I urge the Sri Lankan scientific community to not to ignore this sort […]

JOHN STOSSEL  Courtesy reason Green activists have some good points. But the pursuit of a chemical-free world hurts vulnerable people the most. (Stossel TV) Starvation. Poverty. People struggling to buy medicine and fuel. Disaster happened after one government fell under the influence of the world’s environmental extremists. Many “experts” say pure nature is best. United […]

By Ted Nordhaus, the executive director of the Breakthrough Institute, and Saloni Shah, a food and agriculture analyst at the Breakthrough Institute. Courtesy  Foreign Policy.com A nationwide experiment is abandoned after producing only misery. Faced with a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis, Sri Lanka called off an ill-conceived national experiment in organic agriculture this winter. Sri Lankan […]

Douglas Blair  Courtesy The Daily Signal Douglas Blair is a news producer for The Daily Signal. He is the co-host of The Daily Signal Podcast. Sri Lanka is on fire and enraged protesters have stormed the presidential palace. Dutch farmers continue to protest all across the Netherlands by blocking roads with their tractors. Germany, Italy, […]

Coutesy Taipei Times FERTILIZER BAN: Asia Siyaka Commodities blamed the drop on the agrochemical ban, a government push to transform the country’s farms into 100 percent organic Sri Lanka’s tea exports have dropped to their lowest level in 23 years, official figures showed yesterday, hit by a fertilizer ban and Russia’s war against Ukraine. Tea is […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror President Gotabaya Rajapaksa admitted today that he made a mistake by banning chemical farming, and therefore he decided to re-introduce it. He also said the government should have reached out to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a programme much earlier. Making his remarks to the newly appointed Cabinet ministers, the […]

It will not be imposed on farmers but the choice will be left to them: Minister K. Govardhan Reddy Environment-friendly organic farming will be promoted in the State to ensure premium price for the farm produce, Agriculture Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy said, adding: However, the switch to organic farming will not be a sudden one […]

by Dr Parakrama Waidyanatha Courtesy The Island The Maha harvesting of rice is now nearing completion and the strong indications are that this season’s crop decline would be 40% to 50% due to lack of fertilizer. Concurrently, the yields of other crops too are dropping and the tea yields of 2022 could be the worst […]

Courtesy Hiru News Official data showed yesterday that Sri Lanka’s tea crop suffered its lowest yield in 13 years, reducing output in the country’s main export commodity as the island grapples with its worst economic crisis in seven decades. The Sri Lanka Tea Board figures showed that monthly tea crops dropped to 18.16 million kilos […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror A seed crisis has emerged because of the impossibility of importing hybrid seeds due to the dollar crisis. (PIC: AFP) There are issues regarding importing fertilizer, pesticides and seeds for the Yala season due to the dollar crisis Farmers have faced difficulties during the Yala season due to the lack of […]

James Conca Courtesy Forbes Again and again, new solutions for the environment and human society fail if not properly planned and executed. Whether it’s widescale use of renewables, closing nuclear plants with no plan to replace the generation, or big infrastructure builds just to make jobs, if the rush to emplace is more important than their […]

වන්නි රොමේෂ් මධුෂංඛ උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස් උතුරු පලාතේ සහල නැලිය ලෙසින් හැඳින්වෙන මන්නාරම් දිස්ත්‍රීක්කයේ මෙවර මවකන්නයේ වී අස්වැන්නට නිසි කලට පොහොර නොලැබීම හේතුවෙන්  අස්වැන්න 50 %කින් පමණ අඩුවෙනු ඇතැයි දිස්ත්‍රීක් ගොවීහු පෙන්වා දෙති. මන්නාරම පූවර්සන්කුලම් ප්‍රදේශයේ වී අස්වැන්න නෙලීමේ කටයුතු මේ දින වල සිදුවන අතරම එම ප්‍රදේශයේ පිහිටි සියලු කුඹුරු ගොවිතැන්හි වී වගාවන් සඳහා […]

By R.M. Samanmalee Swarnalatha Courtesy Eurasiareview Sri Lankan government’s badly planned organic farming policy that has banned the use of chemical fertilizer in farms has upset farmers in this rice-growing heartland and a political stronghold of the ruling coalition. The policy has also drawn criticism from agricultural experts, who warn that Sri Lanka’s food security […]

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත් කාබනික පොහොර යොදා සිදු කළ මෙවර මහ කන්නයේ අස්වැන්න සැලකිය යුතු ප්‍රමාණයකින් අඩු වී ඇතැ යි බොහෝ ප්‍රදේශවල ගොවීන් පවසනවා. ඇතැම් ප්‍රදේශවල ගොවීන් පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ, රජයෙන් ප්‍රමාණවත් තරම් කාබනික පොහොර ද නො ලැබුණු බවයි. මෙවර මහ කන්නය යටතේ කාබනික පොහොර යොදා ගනිමින් ගාල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ ප්‍රදේශ කිහිපයක ගොවීන් වී වගාව සිදු කර […]

Courtesy Island Numerous positive claims are often cited for organic farming such as being environmentally friendly, superior food quality free from pesticides and other toxins, efficient energy use and sustainable food production. Much of these are highly contestable, and the most critical issue, why it is expanding only at a snail pace, is hardly discussed. […]

DOUG SAUNDERS Courtesy The Globe & Mail Next time you think of reaching for the higher-priced produce on your supermarket’s organic” shelf, spare a moment’s thought for the people of Sri Lanka. After its annual rice harvest failed, this poor island nation – whose diet is about 80-per-cent rice – in recent weeks launched a […]

Courtesy Ukragroconsult 1 February 2022 If it is possible to learn from the mistakes of others, a moment has come for our parliamentary committees and the Ministry of Agriculture to take a good look at Sri Lanka. For, what better way to implement great policies than by seeing their impact beforehand? And, as the Kenyan […]

ByJoe Wallen, SOUTH ASIA CORRESPONDENT and Nishantha Hewage IN COLOMBO courtesy The Telegraph The country’s worst economic crisis, compounded by a disastrous switch to organic farming, leaves impoverished unable to buy essential items Dinner time has become Susila Irangani’s least favourite time of the day. Nowadays, the 62-year-old never knows whether she will be able to put food on […]

Courtesy Hiru News The ‘Samagi Govijana Prakashanaya’ of the Samagi Jana Balawega was launched in Polonnaruwa this morning (29). It is headed by the Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa. The launching ceremony of the Samagi Jana Balawega’s Samagi Govijana Manifesto commenced this morning near the Parakrama Samudra in Polonnaruwa. The event was inaugurated by the Opposition […]

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස් පොහොර තහනම් කොට ගොවිජනතාව මහා ව්‍යසනයකට ඇද දැමූ ආණ්ඩුව,ඒ ගොවි ජනතාව අසීරුවෙන් ගොවිතැන් කොට අස්වැන්න නෙළා ගන්නට සූදානම් වන විට චීනෙන් සහ ඉන්දියාවෙන් සහල් ගෙන්වීමට කටයුතු කොට ඇතැයි ද විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා පැවසීය. අනාගත කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය පිළිබඳව සමගි ජනබලවේගයේ දැක්ම, ප්‍රතිපත්තිය සහ වැඩ පිළිවෙල ඇතුලත් ” සමගි ගොවිජන ප්‍රකාශනය” දේශයට දායාද කිරීමේ […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror A Chinese company embroiled in a dispute with Sri Lanka over organic fertilizer, has made a formal complaint with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Qingdao Seawin Biological Group Co., Ltd, in an email to Daily Mirror sent through a local agent, said that the complaint was made […]

Courtesy Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana The Government intends to support Green Gram (Mung bean) cultivation as an intermediate crop in the lands where paddy cannot be cultivated, according to the President’s Media Division. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has taken this decision considering the information received during the observation duties at the Department of Agrarian Development. President Rajapaksa has instructed […]

Courtesy News 1st COLOMBO (News 1st); The fertilizer crisis is continuing to aggravate in the public, leaving farmers helpless, and potentially affecting the country’s food supply. Although the Government continues to maintain its organic fertilizer policy, permission has been granted to import chemical fertilizer. However, the rising cost of imports has caused fertilizer prices to rise […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror According to food experts a rice shortage seems unavoidable Reportedly, 300,000 Metric Tons of Nadu and Samba are to be imported to address the rice shortage The price of one kilo of rice would be 200 rupees a kilo by March 1500 containers of food items such as sugar, milk powder, […]

Dr. C. S. Weeraratna Courtesy The Island Farmers protesting against the prevailing fertiliser shortage. (file photo) The importation of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides was banned by a Cabinet Memorandum, dated April 27, 2021, to promote the use of organic fertilizers and natural pesticides. As a result, inorganic fertilisers such as urea, Triple superphosphate, Muriate […]