Govt. to probe possible contamination of test sample
Authorities have launched a special investigation to verify if there has been some sort of contamination of the test sample of imported organic fertiliser following the recent report that indicated it could prove harmful.
Agriculture Department Director General Dr. Ajantha De Silva told Business Times that they cannot yet say anything about the test result as investigations are still going on into this matter.
But he noted that under the Plant Protection Ordinance “we will not permit anything with microbes if it is harmful for plants.” Microbes or microbiological organisms found in fertiliser can be harmful to plants.
The tender awarded to the Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co., Ltd., in China for the importation of fertiliser inputs was to bring down sterilized solid organic fertiliser, in line with Sri Lanka Standards Institution requirements that it should not contain microorganisms or any materials hazardous to plant, animal or human health.
The test result as submitted by the National Plant Quarantine Service under the Agriculture Department has stated in a letter to the Director of the National Fertiliser Secretariat that based on the samples provided on August 31, 2021 they have found that the samples were “highly contaminated with gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The preliminary studies revealed that bacteria to be Bacillus species and Erwinia species which can be pathogenic to plants. Similarly, sample No. 359 was found to be contaminated with gram-positive bacteria which also (would) be a Ancillus species. Therefore samples submitted for laboratory investigations are not sterilized.”
Dr. De Silva however, said that the fertiliser consignment ordered to be imported from China, for paddy cultivation during the incoming Maha season, will also be tested at the Colombo Port prior to being allowed into the country. This stock of fertiliser has not yet arrived in the country, Dr. De Silva said noting that it is due by the end of this month.
A key official at the department said that the tests should be done according to the procurement guideline as stated in the contract signed between the parties. In this respect, a special investigation has been initiated into this issue, he said.
He noted that if the tests fail when the stock of fertiliser arrives, then the shipment will be returned to its country of origin.
While farmers await the newly recommended organic fertiliser they will also need pesticides required to control pests for the Maha season. However, this is likely to be delayed as authorities are still carrying out research on bio pesticides or biosimilar pesticides that will produce results only following two seasons.
Without an adequately available pesticide Peradeniya University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Crop Science Prof. Buddhi Marambe said that this could result in a total crop yield drop.
Pesticides used to control pest infestation of crops is vital to ensure that pests like the rice thrips, brown plant hopper, yellow stem borer, rice leaffolders, rice gall midge, paddy bug and the rice sheath mite can be controlled. So far these types of pests are identified by the Rice Research and Development Institute in Bathalagoda as the major pests of rice in Sri Lanka.
Officials at the Registrar of Pesticides have stated that the approvals for the pesticides have to follow a stipulated procedure that cannot be rushed.
The procedure involves testing over a period of two seasons and field testing and following a recommendation of an evaluation committee, an official stated.
About 40 applications had been received for the importation of bio pesticides from locations like Japan, France, India, China and Malaysia. Sample testing is underway for four of these applicants.
In the meantime, the Agriculture Department has on September 10 discussed with the Irrigation Department how farmers can receive an adequate supply of water to flood the fields in a bid to control weed growth among the paddy plants.
Flooding is a method of controlling weeds by saturating the area for a number of weeks that reduces the availability of oxygen to the plant roots thereby killing the weed.