Sri Lanka's Agri spending & compensation

by Zulfick Farzan 26-01-2022 | 9:50 AM

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Sri Lankan Government on Tuesday (25) decided to allocate a mammoth sum of Rs. 40 Billion as compensation for paddy farmers whose cultivations were damaged during the last harvest season.

However, it must be noted that the allocations for fertilizer subsidies by the government have dropped since 2019.

In 2019, a total of Rs. 30.1 Bn was allocated for fertilizer subsidies while in 2020 that figure slumped to Rs. 21.3 Billion.

Sri Lanka is now paying Rs. 40 Bn as compensation for the loss of yield during ONE harvesting season after a decision was made to do away with Chemical Fertilizer and shift to Organic Fertilizer.

Sri Lanka's Agricultural sector took a blow when Organic Fertilizer ordered from China tested for pathogens and Sri Lanka eventually had to pay USD 6.9 Million to Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co., Ltd.

While Sri Lanka went back and forth over Chinese Organic Fertilizer, the island nation also looked to India to import Nano Nitrogen Fertilizer from the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO).

While all this was taking place, the Government also decided to import rice from Myanmar, India, and China.

It must also be noted that Sri Lanka's export revenue from vegetables and fruits slumped by over 25%.