{"id":120171,"date":"2021-11-10T18:22:05","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T01:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=120171"},"modified":"2021-11-10T18:22:05","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T01:22:05","slug":"fertiliser-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/11\/10\/fertiliser-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Fertiliser Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Islandwide farmers are\ncontinuously protesting about the unavailability of fertiliser. One cannot\nblame the Government for the inadequacy of officials responsible for\ndistributing the compost. The poor Minister gets blamed over weaknesses of the\ndistribution sector. It is due entirely to the inefficiency of the officials in\ncharge of distribution. This can be proved when the writer went to the Maharagama (Agrarian\nServices ) Govijanasewa office to get\nhis allocated quota of fertiliser on 26 October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fertiliser<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Farmers make a\nRaucous <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, the \u2018<\/em>Govijanasewa<\/em>\u2019<\/em> office advised farmers that the carbonic\nfertiliser would be available on 26 October. Accordingly, the writer, too, went\non that day to get his allocation. Everyone who went to collect their\nallocation that day also spent extra money on petrol, which is expensive these\ndays. The officials advised farmers that they expected the delivery to arrive\nonly on 27 October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Indeed, the officials\nshould have known of this fact before advising the farmers in advance. The\nfarmers were very annoyed and made a raucous wanting to know why officials were\nunable to keep them informed. Indeed, the Govijana officials would have\nreceived this information in advance about the change of situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this fact, they did\nnot inform the local farmers accordingly. If they were to pass the buck on\nwhoever they expected to receive delivery of carbonic fertiliser from, then\nthose responsible officials should take the blame. This type of unpleasant\nsituation occurs due to the lackadaisical attitude of the so-called \u2018government\nservants\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 It must be the same\nsituation in other areas of the country where farmers are protesting.\nTherefore, the finger should directly point at all the office staff responsible\nfor distributing fertilisers to farmers around the country at the appropriate\ntime. One cannot blame the Government for each and every claptrap the officials\nget involved in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government gave the\ncarbonic fertiliser free for this Kanna<\/em><\/strong> and promised to pay\ncompensation for the farmers who lost their paddy crops. But the frustration of\nthe farmers of not getting the fertiliser in time seems to be due to the\nnegligence of officials responsible for a smooth operation of providing\nfertiliser. These days Thalawathugoda and elsewhere in the country, the rains occur at odd intervals with lightning\nand thunder included, thus making it impossible for farmers to work in their\npaddy fields. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aren\u2019t the Govijana\nofficials aware of this fact? On 27 October the Govijana office at Maharagama\nadvised farmers about the vehicle transporting fertiliser having a mechanical\nproblem. However, fertiliser was finally made available only on the afternoon\nof 28 October. Farmers staged an uproar inside the \u2018Govijanasew<\/em>a\u2019 office\nat Maharagama over all these difficulties created for them by officials. The\nsituation could be identical Islandwide, now farmers in specific areas want the\nPresident to visit and observe what\u2019s happening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imported Organic\nFertiliser <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, another\ncontroversy has brewed over the consignment of the Chinese Qingdao Seawin\norganic fertiliser ship from China. Initially, samples of this first\nconsignment tested were highly contaminated. Still, rumours were floating to\nindicate that the same vessel had turned around, changed the name, and anchored\nin the Colombo outer harbour. It contained 18,000 MT, of which samples were\nhighly contaminated; hence the Government had to reject that consignment. The opposition is making\ncapital out of this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition leader\njoined in with farmers in various parts of the country and urged \u2018the\nPresident to take a step back on inaccurate decisions, such as banning chemical\nfertilisers<\/em>.\u2019 Also opening an SJB Head Office in Wattala on 1 November,\nSajith Premadasa said, The President and Government have no choice but to\nrectify these inaccurate decisions<\/em>.\u201d One should think whether Sajith\nPremadasa\u2019s head needs examining! Alternatively, the President is working to\nbuild a healthy society in Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, the opposition\nleader wants chemical fertilisers imported when many people and farmers are\naffected by CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease<\/em>). Apart from that, the whole\nworld is saluting the Sri Lankan President for being sensible and turning\ntowards an ecofriendly society in Sri Lanka. One is inclined to think whether\nthe Opposition leader has any common sense about CKD and its consequences on\nfarming families, especially in those areas where chronic kidney disease is\nwidespread? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rejection and Government\u2019s\nstand<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Regarding the\nrejection of organic fertiliser from China, Cabinet spokesman Dr. Ramesh\nPathirana said. Although the ship is in Colombo\u2019s outer harbour, it is not\nallowed to dock and never be allowed to be in Sri Lankan waters<\/em>.\u2019 However,\nthe Director-General of the Agricultural Department said: It was the first\nbulk order from China that was contaminated and not the entire order. The\nGovernment has not rejected the Chinese company outright.\u201d<\/em> Dr. Ajantha de\nSilva quoted in the Ceylon Today on 27 October, was quoted that there were\naround four consignments of the Chinese consignments; hence the whole\nconsignment was not rejected by the Government. Dr. Silva has also said if the\nshipment samples sent to Sri Lanka in the future are to be free from\ncontamination, then the Ministry of Agriculture would accept the second batch\nof bulk fertiliser from Qingdao Seawin and so on. If the second consignment\nsample is free from microorganisms, we will reject that order too.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Meanwhile, the\nChinese company insisted that every consignment goes through a National Plant\nQuarantine Service (NPQS). Nevertheless, the Ceylon Fertiliser Company (CFC)\nLtd obtained another interim order from the Colombo Commercial High Court\nagainst the Chinese Qingdao Seawin Organic Fertiliser Company. The Court Order\nprevents the opening of any pending Letters of Credit in favour of the Chinese\nQingdao Seawin organic fertiliser company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The latest is that\nthe National Plant Quarantine Service (NPQS) tested the samples sent to them\nhave confirmed that the first consignment of fertiliser indeed contained\ncertain types of harmful bacteria. The first batch was a partial shipment worth\nmore than Rupees one billion secured through a tender process confirmed by the\nMinistry of Agriculture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

COP26 UN Conference <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the COP26 UN Climate\nChange Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, twentyfive thousand delegates\nassembled. It included Head of States of one hundred and ninety-seven\ncountries. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa urged the international nations to work\ntogether in a true spirit and cooperation to overcome the climate crisis and\nsustain humanity and the planet. He pronounced that Sri Lanka recently\nrestricted the import of chemical fertiliser, pesticides weedicides due to\npublic concerns and biodiversity impacts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Problems for the Government\nare compounded with various protests and threatening to take work-to rule decisions by several trade unions on multiple\nissues. It is mainly because global commodity prices have rocketed after the\nCovid-19 pandemic and economies everywhere in the world are only beginning to\nrecover from the pandemic. The ordinary person on the street cannot understand\nthis fact. India cut excise duty on petrol by Indian Rupees five (USD 0.0671)\nper litre and Ten rupees on diesel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lankan Government\ncannot do so because it incurred many expenses to curtail the suffering of poor\npeople and ordered millions of inoculations to combat Covid-19. At the same\ntime, the Government lost a substantial amount of money in taking care of those\nfamilies dependent on a daily wage. Nevertheless, one hopes that with the\nincrease in tourism and the President in Glasgow negotiating with other world\nleaders, a ray of bright sunshine will shine on Sri Lanka, and new life, hope\nand freshness to every citizen will dawn upon soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

tilakfernando@gmail.com <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Islandwide farmers are continuously protesting about the unavailability of fertiliser. One cannot blame the Government for the inadequacy of officials responsible for distributing the compost. The poor Minister gets blamed over weaknesses of the distribution sector. It is due entirely to the inefficiency of the officials in charge of distribution. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-drtilak-s-fernando"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}