Govt. to airlift nano liquid fertilizer from India

With farmers demonstrating against the government over the delay in the supply of fertilizer, the government decided to airlift a stock of nano liquid fertilizer from India soon, a Minister said.

Initially, the government planned to import 30,000 tonnes of this nanotechnology-based product from an Indian government company.

“We will airlift stocks to meet the needs for the present Maha season,” State Minister of Promoting the Production & Regulating the Supply of Organic Fertilizer Shasheendra Rajapaksa told Daily Mirror.

Rice is expected to be cultivated in 800,000 hectares in the Maha season. The Minister said the lack of organic fertilizer had affected the cultivation of as many as 500,000 of them.

“We will bring nano liquid fertilizer from India soon. It is to be sprayed on plants,” he said.

The government decided to introduce organic farming.the use of agrochemicals has been banned in the country.

The state minister said the government’s initial move to import organic nitrogen extracts from China went awry since harmful bacteria was found in samples examined by the Sri Lankan plant quarantine authorities.

“There is a delay in securing supplies because of this incident,” he said.

The Minister said 10-20 per cent crop reduction is expected because of transformation into organic farming.(Kelum Bandara)