Sterilisation standards not in settlement with Chinese fertiliser company
The settlement reached by Sri Lanka with the same Chinese company to continue to purchase organic fertiliser does not include sterilisation standards, which experts say could cause problems to the local environment. However, agriculture authorities state that the previous contract entered into and the procurement guidelines are still valid.
According to the settlement entered into on January 3 with the Ceylon Fertiliser Company, the Qingdao company “undertakes to obtain and provide a certificate or raw material ingredients used in detail certified by the ISO 17065 process”, confirming (the) institution having ISO 17025 accreditation, and arrange for fresh samples of the new consignment of organic fertiliser to be taken and tested.
“In terms of the contract between the Parties which should be free of pathogenic organisms though it may contain harmless organisms, and to ship the said consignment only after the tested samples have been found to be in compliance with the Plant Protection Act, No. 35 of 1999, as amended, and after an import permit for the bulk shipment has been obtained in accordance with the law,” it said.
Peradeniya University Weed Science Senior Prof. Buddhi Marambe pointed out that the settlement entered into with the Qingdao Seawin Biotech Company does not include the Sri Lanka Standards Institute requirement for sterilisation of the organic fertiliser in compliance with SLS 1704. He noted that when this organic fertiliser is not sterilised anything can enter the country.
“There is a chance that an alien organism can be disease causing or potentially harmful to the environment and unless that assessment has been done properly and to consider the material is safe they should not be allowed to be entered into the country,” he explained.
It is like allowing a new disease to enter into the country and it can even cause environmental problems if it displaces other native microorganisms, Prof. Marambe said.
Scientists are aware of only 10 per cent of the overall microorganisms found in the world; as a result of which the unknown species out there are greater in number. In this respect, according to this agreement if any unknown species should enter the country it could be damaging to the environment.
Prof. Marambe observed that this could go against the National Policy on Invasive Alien Species adopted in 2016 that aims at preventing the introduction and spread of invasive alien species and their control.
Agriculture Department Director General Dr. Ajantha De Silva however told the Business Times on Friday that the bid contract entered into still remains valid.
In this respect, he opined that the procurement guidelines as stipulated previously still hold valid.
He noted that if it is not complied with they will not issue the import permit and the previous standards adopted at the start of the contract still apply.
Dr. De Silva however said that they were not made aware of any date on which new samples will be sent to them for testing and that when they do come in they would adhere to the procurement guidelines and contract entered into with the Qingdao company.
According to the terms of the settlement samples from the same batch will be tested and confirmed by the international third party SGS Switzerland HQ before shipment.
Two samples of organic fertiliser from this Qingdao company had last year been rejected on the basis that the National Plant Quarantine Services (NPQS) had detected Bacillus and Erwinia species that are harmful bacteria to plants and humans.
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