Farmers from Dambulla in quandary due to acute shortage of fertilizer

By Kanchana Kumara   

Members of the farming community were seen standing in long queues outside fertilizer shops in Dambulla over the last few days to purchase their requirements of fertilizer.  However it was evident that most of them had been left in the lurch due to the unavailability of adequate stocks.  

They pointed out that despite the officials in the Fertilizer Secretariat informing the media that sufficient stocks of fertilizer had been released to the market. 

The traders had not received adequate stocks and were issuing only one bag of fertilizer per farmer .  
Farmers said the category of fertilizer required for their crops was not available and several fertilizer dealers had received only vegetable fertilizer. They expressed concern about the shortage of fertilizer and urea for the cultivation of big onions. Hundreds of farmers who had traveled from as far as 35 kilometres to purchase fertilizer had to return empty handed in disappointment.  

They requested the Fertilizer Secretariat to issue adequate stocks of fertilizer at least for a reasonable price if not for the subsidized price.