In the face of a tragedy of catastrophic food shortages as a result of Sri Lanka’s greatest economic crisis, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of fertiliser for the current crop season.
Rajapaksa said on Wednesday that the fertiliser will be supplied with Indian financing help and it would be delivered within 20 days of its arrival in Sri Lanka. He made the announcement at the President’s House in Colombo during a discussion on the country’s current irrigation and agriculture issues.
The fertiliser is scheduled to arrive in time for the Yala season, which runs from May to August and is one of two crop seasons in the Indian Ocean island country.
During the Maha season, which lasted from March and April, the country’s yield dropped by almost 30% to 40%. The Sri Lankan government’s sudden decision on April 27, 2021, to prohibit chemical fertilisers has been criticised by agriculture professionals and farmers as the cause of the huge decline in farming.
President Rajapaksa realised the ban on chemical fertilisers was a mistake in April 2021 and overturned the decision, but the present economic crisis has made importing chemical fertilisers a big challenge.
Following consultations with the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India in early May 2022, India’s Milinda Moragoda promised the provision of much-needed fertilisers.
After conversations with India’s Secretary of the Department of Fertilizers, Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi, the Sri Lankan High Commission in India stated that India has agreed to give 65,000 MT of urea during the Yala season.
In the midst of the greatest economic crisis since independence, India has sent about $3 billion to her southern neighbour in order to offer vital things such as food, gasoline, medicine, and fertiliser.
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