Sri Lanka to spend over Rs. 220 b in costly shift to organic farming
View(s):The government’s ill-timed move of shifting to fully organic farming has triggered a massive economic loss for the country endangering crop yield during the present” Maha’ season.
The total cost incurred during the implementation of organic agriculture is estimated at around Rs. 222.6 billion, Finance Ministry provisional estimates and mathematical model computations revealed.
The root cause of this financial loss is the unprecedented drop in crop yield and the overnight action to import organic fertiliser and inorganic nutrients along with the heavy spending on local natural manure production, several economic analysts said.
The government’s policy measures to introduce organic farming have become a costly affair due to potential economic losses and it has already surpassed the chemical fertiliser import cost of Rs. 80 million.
Another reason was the importation of organic fertiliser and natural minerals and related herbal trace minerals to avert the crash in crop yield, veteran economic expert disclosed.
Sri Lanka is about to face adverse impacts on food security, agriculture industry revenue, foreign exchange earnings and rural poverty pushing the country into a serious crisis.
This was the direct result of shifting the current local agricultural practices to organic farming without considering the technological, environmental, and economic costs and benefits, he pointed out.
A sum of Rs. 3.8 billion will be spent to purchase organic fertiliser from local producers during the current Maha cultivation season.
The cost to import nano nitrogen liquid fertilizer (Nano urea) from India is Rs. 9 billion while another sum of Rs.1.3 billion has been paid to import 30,000 tonnes of potassium chloride fertiliser.
Under the present crisis situation the government will have to take methodical and practical measures to achieve the aim of transforming present farming practices towards modern organic agriculture by setting targets in consultation with agricultural scientists, several economic experts suggested.