Delays have been reported in distributing organic fertiliser under the Government’s new programme due to an issue regarding a circular issued by the Agriculture Ministry, The Sunday Morning learns.
It is learnt that following a recent Cabinet decision, powers have been vested with the District Secretary (DS) to purchase organic fertiliser in accordance with recommendations given by a committee appointed by the DS representing leaders in the farming community of the said district.
Miscommunication
However, there have been several irregularities reported from three districts including Anuradhapura, Nuwara Eliya, and Galle, where the district secretaries have given recommendations instead of releasing money to purchase fertiliser, claiming that the wording of the circular implied that it sought only the recommendations of the DS, although all necessary funds had been allocated to the DS itself to purchase organic fertiliser.
As a result of the irregularity, farmers in the three respective districts have faced numerous issues and ultimately farmers in Anuradhapura have sought the intervention of one of the leading political figures in the Anuradhapura District.
The Sunday Morning reliably learns that the issue has been resolved following the politician’s intervention, wherein he had spoken to both parties including the Agriculture Ministry Secretary and the District Secretary.
The farmers, however, have been pushed about for many weeks due to the lack of coordination between the district secretaries of those respective districts and the Agriculture Ministry. As a result, delays have arisen in distributing the respective organic fertiliser.
It is learnt that the organic fertiliser purchased for farmers in Anuradhapura was valued at Rs. 1.5 billion.
The Government recently allocated Rs. 16 billion for the purchase of organic fertiliser for the 2022/’23 Maha season by approving a proposal submitted by the Agriculture Minister for the purchase.
For the distribution of organic fertilisers in the 2022/’23 Maha season, a district committee was formed to cover all the districts of the island. This committee, headed by the DS, also consisted of representatives of farmers’ organisations of the respective district.
Accordingly, farmers were permitted to buy an organic fertiliser of their choice. Measures were taken to provide Rs. 20,000 per hectare of paddy cultivation and Rs. 40,000 for two hectares, the Minister of Agriculture said on Friday (7).
The responsibility of the quality of fertiliser purchased by the respective committee lies with the committee itself and if substandard organic fertilisers have been provided to farmers, this committee consisting of representatives of farmer organisations will be held responsible.
Attempts made by The Sunday Morning to contact Agriculture Ministry Secretary Gunadasa Samarasinghe were futile.
Chemical fertiliser distribution
Meanwhile, steps have been taken by the Department of Agrarian Development to issue TSP (Triple Super Phosphate) fertiliser to all farmers in the country by Monday (10). As of 23 March, a total of 82,519 farmers have received TSP fertiliser. Accordingly, 2,419 MT of TSP fertiliser has been distributed through Agrarian Service Centres located in all 25 districts.
The distribution of TSP fertiliser for the Yala season commenced last month.
As stated by the ministry, the Government will be spending a total of Rs. 2.5 billion to distribute stocks of TSP fertiliser throughout the island. Although the UNFAO and USAID donated TSP fertiliser to the country, the Government has to bear the cost of transportation when distributing this fertiliser islandwide. Accordingly, the General Treasury has provided a sum of Rs. 2.5 billion for distribution of the relevant stocks of fertiliser.
In addition, the Government has spent a large amount of money for the distribution of urea fertiliser during the Maha season – a sum of Rs. 6 billion has been spent to distribute 110,000 MT of urea.
Arrangements have been made for farmers to easily obtain their required quantity of fertiliser from the respective Agrarian Service Centres according to the date of commencement of their cultivation.
Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that during this Yala season, farmers would be able to apply TSP fertiliser to their paddy fields before sowing seeds.
Vegetables, fruits and other crops
Even though the distribution of both chemical and organic fertiliser has taken place, farmer trade unions allege that farmers have only been given mud fertiliser for paddy cultivation, which was received from international agencies.
According to them, there is a severe shortage of fertiliser for all other cultivations.
All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation (ACFF) President Namal Karunaratne stressed that vegetable farmers continued to face a severe shortage of fertiliser and as a result many farmers were losing a fair share of their harvest as well.
“Vegetables require timely fertiliser treatment. It is difficult to get the expected harvest from the plants without fertiliser,” he stressed.
“The shortages have been there for many months, but the Government hasn’t provided a proper solution. The harvest has been dropping and the prices remain unchanged in the market. As a result, both farmers and consumers are suffering,” he said.
Due to the shortage of chemical fertilisers for fruits and vegetables, the Government suggested using organic fertilisers.
Nevertheless, the farmer representatives of all 25 districts have expressed their unwillingness to use organic fertilisers for vegetables and fruits, claiming that they had previously been given soil and paddy husks as organic fertilisers. According to the representatives, farmers have lost faith in using organic fertiliser for their vegetable and fruit cultivation due to the substandard products offered to them, while some products that had been offered had not even been approved by the Agriculture Department.
During the Maha season, the responsibility of regulating organic and compost fertilisers is given to the district committees, which consist of the district secretary and three farmer representatives. However, farmer representatives said that they had not received quality organic and compost fertilisers.
Nevertheless, the Agriculture Ministry said that it was looking for ways to provide a concession for organic fertiliser for tea and vegetables.
The Government has allocated Rs. 16 billion for organic fertiliser during the 2022/’23 Maha season, through which it was planned to give Rs. 20,000 per hectare of paddy. Accordingly, Rs. 10 billion has been spent to provide organic fertiliser during this Maha season.
Likewise, the ministry has instructed officials to examine the possibility of providing a similar subsidy for vegetable farmers to purchase organic fertiliser of their choice.