Govt has not backtracked on green agriculture policy: Mahindananda

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Minister of Agriculture, Mahindananda Aluthgamage says that the Government has not backtracked on its policy of green agriculture. Speaking at the Parliament today (26), the Agriculture Minister alleged that Sri Lanka is the only country in which views are expressed in Parliament saying that the country has been destroyed by organic farming. Moreover, the Minister said that the Government will grant subsidies for green agriculture, and will give the Government's support and technology for green agriculture. But as a Government that feels for the people, we allowed chemical fertilizer to be imported as there was a demand for that, the Minister mentioned, stating that the Government had allowed the private sector to import the chemical fertilizer. However, he stated that no state company will import chemical fertilizer. The Minister further spoke, refuting allegations regarding the funds for Indian nano nitrogen fertilizer being deposited in a private account, and defended the move to open a letter of credit before testing the Chinese fertilizer samples, citing a security bond of 5 million U.S. dollars as the reason.