An Echelon Media Company
Tuesday May 30th, 2023

Sri Lanka fertilizer ban too sudden, fraught with uncertainty, farmers unprepared

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s plan to move into organic fertilizer was a good move in principle but the sudden shift has left farmers fearful and the agriculture sector unprepared, private sector officials closely involved in agriculture have warned.

“It is a noble objective. It is an objective we have to pursue but there is a certain pathway,” Dilhan Fernando, Chief Executive of Dilmah Tea Company told a forum hosted by Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

“It involves re-generation of soils, multiple adaptations including the infrastructural knowledge, the systems, and processes that will, first of all, establish the parameters.”

“None of these have been done. So, a lot of the discussions that are happening now should have happened a few years ago.”

Analysts have said one of the problems for Sri Lanka’s economic problems along with monetary instability (money printing and currency collapses) is regime uncertainty, which involves policy uncertainty and expropriation and nationalism, which triggers ethnic strife.

Related

Sri Lanka’s triple shackles converge to slam economy in Coronavirus crisis: Bellwether

Sri Lanka has banned fertilizer imports from the upcoming main Maha cultivation to save 400 million US dollars in import costs after money printing triggered foreign exchange shortages.

Sri Lanka Government Medical Officers Association an influential policy driver had said agrochemicals caused non-communicable diseases and Sri Lanka’s ancestors lived for 140 years in Roman times according to Pliny the Elder’s encyclopedia when there were no agrochemicals.

Muddy Mandates

After self-determination from British rule and the breaking of the permanent civil service, Sri Lanka has lost the ability to do evidence-based policy making, using green papers, white papers followed by expert and public consultation, critics have said.

Instead, policy upheavals are done by in ‘policy by manifesto’, a deadly process done in political backrooms by people with special interests and poor technical knowledge, experts with experience in evidenced-based policy-making have said.

They are then carried out on the basis of a ‘mandate’.

Sri Lanka’s misguided state priorities and how to reset them

“But this is a muddy mandate. Each manifesto contains a multiplicity of promises. Was the vote a considered approval for each of those promises?,” Rohan Samarajiva, founder of LIRNEasia, a regional think tank who was involved in Sri Lanka’s telecom and South Asian aviation liberalization questions.

“Manifesto making is political. Experts or those who are perceived as experts may be called in to contribute, but the principal criterion is not expertise, but trust.

“Those who have been involved in manifesto making will testify to the opacity of the process, wherein what is accepted one day can disappear in the next and new clauses and conditions can mysteriously appear even after “finalization.”

Meanwhile, Fernando said Bhutan, a South Asian neighbor that adopted similar methods but their consumer prices increased. Switzerland recently dropped a plan to ban agrochemicals.

In Sri Lanka, organic foods are already priced higher than ordinary products in supermarkets.

Government spokesmen themselves have claimed that organic foods fetch premiums in export markets while trying to convert a country where children of poor families already face malnutrition and stunting.

No Strategy

Rohan Fernando, Managing Director, Aitken Spence Plantation Managements said a practical strategy was needed to transform an entire agricultural sector.

“Like anything, you have to build a strategy and this is something long-term,” he said. “If we build a good strategy, it can be implemented but not something that could be done overnight. We could face unwanted problems.”

Dilhan Fernando, CEO of Dilmah Tea Company said the objective has to be reached incrementally and care should be taken not to generate greater risks.

“First we have to reduce artificial inputs,” Fernando said. “That is an absolute no-brainer because we cannot continue on this present trajectory but to be done step by step.

“If you have a population that has been depending on certain agricultural methods over centuries, suddenly to change over can introduce other use of chemicals that may have not been approved, that can create a far greater danger.”

Sri Lanka has banned fertilizer from the next season Maha or main cultivation season. Sri Lanka is also planning to import some organic fertilizers, which could also have various unknown impurities.

Fraught with Uncertainty

There have been widespread farmer protests. Farmers are also apprehensive due to uncertainty and lack of expertise.

“It is a situation of unknowns,” Charitha Subasinghe, President – Retail, John Keells Holdings, which works with farmers and sells fruits and vegetables through an island-wide chain said.

“When we talk with the farmers and work with them, the unknown is what is worrying the farmer. The question is that can we do it overnight or should it be phased out is the question that is working in the minds of the farmers.”

He said there seemed to be too many unknowns to predict how everything will pan out.

Shea Wickramasingha, Group Managing Director, Ceylon Biscuits Limited, the group had been involved in exporting organic spices, fruits, and coconut.

“The idea and thinking are very good but it can’t be done overnight,” she said.

“When we stopped using chemical fertilizers in soya cultivation, we did a lot of trials and research.

“And also you need to ensure farmers income does not come down. So when you are converting to organic fertilizers you need to do it in a way your output is not reduced.”

“There’s a lot of work, you cannot just say that from today you are going to use organic fertilizers, there is a lot of challenge but we need to have a strategy.” (Colombo/Aug26/2021)

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Leave a Comment

Leave a Comment

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sri Lanka food producers on countdown; 6-months to reduce trans fat content

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lankan food manufacturers only have another six months to reduce the amount of trans fat in food items as the government plans to ban high trans-fat food from January 2024 onwards, an official said.

“A six-month grace period has been given to existing manufacturers, sellers and distributors whose products contain trans-fat,” an official of the Ministry of Health told EconomyNext requesting anonymity.

According to a Ministry of Health gazette issued on… a person shall not sell, offer for sale, expose or keep for sale or advertise for sale, any packaged food product containing trans-fat unless the total amount of trans-fat of such food product per 100 grams or 100 milliliters of the food product is declared on the label of such packaged food product.

However, these regulations will not be applicable for export oriented food products.

Trans-fat is a type of fat that has certain chemical properties and is usually found in processed foods such as baked goods, snack foods, fried foods, shortening, margarine, and certain vegetable oils.

Eating trans-fat increases blood cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has praised Sri Lanka for enacting a legislation on trans-fat to protect health and prevent premature deaths from coronary heart disease, a statement from the WHO said.

“Eliminating trans-fats from food supplies is a cost-effective measure with enormous health benefits,” the statement quoting Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia said.

“By enacting legislation on trans-fat, Sri Lanka has once again demonstrated its resolve to protect and promote the health of its people”.

The regulations are coming into effect as Sri Lanka is struggling with food insecurity as the country recovers from its worst economic crisis.

However, an improvement in food security across all provinces has been recorded, according to an assessment by a Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) of two UN agencies. (Colombo/ May 30/2023)

Continue Reading

India extends under utilized $1 bln credit facility to Sri Lanka by one year 

ECONOMYNEXT – India has extended a $1 billion credit facility to Sri Lanka by another year after the loan that was given to help the crisis-hit island nation to continue import of essentials was not fully utilized in the 12 month period originally agreed, officials said.

Sri Lanka faced with a looming sovereign default signed the credit facility in March 2022 for one year through March 2024. However, the full $1 billion had not been utilized yet.

The Facility has been used for urgent procurement of fuel, medicines, food items and industrial raw materials, as per the requirements and priorities of Sri Lanka.

“The initial agreement was signed in 2022 March and out of the 1000 million US dollars allocated materials were imported for $576.75 mil,” Shehan Semasinghe, State Finance Minister said in his official twitter platform.

“The agreement is extended for the remaining $423.25 mil. We will prioritize the import of essential medicines till March 2024.”

Indian High Commission in Colombo said the State Bank of India (SBI) has extended the tenure of the $1 billion Credit Facility provided to Sri Lanka in response to a request from the Government of Sri Lanka.  (Colombo/May 30/2023)

Continue Reading

Sri Lanka President cleared to discuss cancelled LRT after soured Japan relations

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal by President Ranil Wickremesinghe discuss resuming a Japan funded. Light Rail Transit (LRT) project cabinet spokesman said, as the island nation is in the process of mending ties with Tokyo.

However, any such deals are likely to take place after the debt restructuring and Sri Lanka starts to repay its foreign loans to come out of default, analysts say.

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa unilaterally cancelled the 1.5 billion US dollar LRT and East Container Terminal (ECT) projects in 2021. Japan agreed to fund the LRT project while it was one of the tripartite members of the ECT project along with India and Sri Lanka.

The abrupt cancellation hit the diplomatic ties between the two countries and Sri Lankan government officials have said Japan had given the project to Sri Lanka at a very lower financing cost.

President Wickremesinghe returned from Japan late last week after having met top officials of the Japanese government including its prime minister.

“In recent history, due to the stopping of several agreements and proposals suddenly, President Wickremesinghe went to Japan after creating the background to clear some of the worries we have,” Cabinet Spokesman Bandula Gunawardena told the weekly media briefing.

“Before he went, he got the approval from the cabinet to resume the discussion on the light railway project. He got the approval from the cabinet to get parliament approval for bilateral agreements signed or any other investments project. Any change or cancellation of a project could be done only with the approval of the parliament.”

Japan has backed Sri Lanka under Wickremesinghe’s presidency after the island nation declared sovereign debt default. (Colombo/May 30/2023)

Continue Reading