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Govt. accused of secret plan to privatise fertiliser imports
By Mangala Pavithrani
Colombo, Sept. 30 (Daily Mirror) - The government is preparing to implement a secret plan to privatise the import of fertiliser and the supply chain, National Farmers' Union Chairman Anuradha Tennakoon claimed.
He said the National Fertiliser Secretariat, Lak Fertiliser Company and Commercial Fertiliser Company currently import and distribute the fertiliser stocks required for the country.
Tennakoon questioned whether the government’s refusal to allow fertiliser imports for the upcoming seasons is the first step towards shutting down these institutions.
“Handing over fertiliser imports to large-scale businessmen selected by the government is a great injustice to the farmers,” he said.
Tennakoon said that a metric ton of urea costs between USD 280–300, while the local market price of a 50 kg bag of urea has already risen to Rs. 10,000.
“If the fertiliser monopoly is handed over completely to the private sector, prices will go out of control. Fertiliser prices may increase further. Farmers do not have the resources to buy fertiliser at higher prices. This will ruin the farmer and destroy farming,” he warned.
According to Tennakoon, 850,000 hectares of paddy are cultivated annually in the Maha season and 450,000 hectares in the Yala season. In addition, around 100,000 acres are used for vegetable cultivation, involving nearly 20,000 farming families.
“All farmers are uniting to defeat the government’s secret plan to privatise the fertiliser monopoly, which is causing severe difficulties to the farming community,” he added.
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