14 September 2020 11:15 pm
Government is to make a major shift in the agriculture sector to increase the usage of organic fertiliser from one per cent to 30 per cent within three years, Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage said today.
The Minister said the usage of organic fertiliser should be expedited as a solution to the health issues faced by both farmers and the people.
This he said is the policy of the government and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Accordingly, the government had decided to get the state-owned companies to produce organic fertiliser, providing technical and other assistance for production and providing tax incentives to the private sector companies which produce fertiliser, if they move on to the production of organic fertiliser, and to provide lands to set up organic fertiliser manufacturing plants. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the government had also decided to introduce a distribution mechanism for organic fertiliser, to make the product available.
Several State Ministers, government officials and fertiliser manufacturing companies participated in the discussion. (Yohan Perera)