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Farmers threaten to hold authorities under siege

03 Jan 2022

By Buddhika Samaraweera Following Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage’s statement that only farmers who have cultivated crops using all four types of fertilisers provided by the Government will be compensated for crop damages, farmers’ organisations have warned that if the Government does not take action to pay compensation for crops damaged due to the fertiliser crisis without imposing conditions, thousands of farmers will surround the homes of the President and ministers in the near future. Speaking to the media last Sunday (2), Aluthgamage stated that compensation will be paid only to farmers who have cultivated crops using all four types of fertilisers provided by the Government. Accordingly, farmers in the Giritale area in Polonnaruwa protested against the statement made by Aluthgamage. Speaking to the media, All Ceylon Agrarian Federation General Secretary T.B. Sarath said: “Aluthgamage first told the farmers to cultivate with organic fertiliser as a model project. He also said that if there is any loss, compensation will be paid to farmers. But now he says that compensation will be paid only to farmers who have used the four types of fertilisers provided by the Government.” Sarath alleged that farmers in some areas were not given four types of fertilisers by the Government in that manner. He noted, for example, that no farmer in the Polonnaruwa area had been provided with nano-nitrogen liquid fertiliser. “We insist that Aluthgamage be prepared to pay compensation for the damaged crops immediately. Do not try to impose conditions on us. The fight to get compensation for the crops damaged due to the current fertiliser crisis will begin today. If we do not receive compensation, the present Government should be ready to go home. We will surround the houses of the President and the ministers with the participation of thousands of farmers,” he warned. Speaking to the media last Sunday, Aluthgamage further said the Government could not compensate farmers who were just waiting, doing nothing. “We first distributed organic solid fertilisers to the farmers and then bio-liquid fertilisers, potassium chloride, and nano-nitrogen liquid fertilisers. All four of these fertilisers should have been used by the farmer in order to get compensation for crop damages. Otherwise, the Government will not be able to pay the compensation if the farmers do nothing and just keep their mouths open,” he said. A proposal to ban the use and importation of chemical fertilisers and agrochemicals including pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides/weedicides was submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in April 2021 and the same was granted approval, following which the relevant gazette notification was issued on 6 May 2021. However, the Government decided to revoke the Extraordinary Gazette No. 2226/48 of 6 May 2021, which banned the importation of chemical fertilisers and agrochemicals, and to thereby allow the private sector to import the same, with effect from 24 November 2021. However, throughout the past few months, farmers in several areas were seen charging that there is a serious shortage of fertiliser for their cultivations and a number of protests have also been organised by farmers’ organisations and various parties demanding that the Government provide a solution to the fertiliser shortage. In this backdrop, farmers in several areas are currently staging protests demanding that the Government pay compensation for crops damaged due to the fertiliser shortage in the country. Farmers in the Uva Paranagama area in Badulla staged a protest last Thursday (30 December 2021), demanding compensation for their crops damaged due to the lack of fertiliser, as promised by the Government. Commenting to the media during the protest, the farmers said that their crops had been destroyed in both the Yala and Maha cultivating seasons due to the fertiliser crisis. Therefore, they emphasised that the Government should take immediate action to compensate for the damages. Meanwhile, farmers in the Rajanganaya area also staged a protest last Wednesday (29 December 2021), alleging that their crops have been severely damaged due to the lack of fertiliser. Claiming that Aluthgamage had been stating before the media that action would be taken to compensate the farmers for any crop damages due to the fertiliser issue, the farmers who participated in the protest demanded that they be compensated as soon as possible. Attempts to contact Agriculture Ministry Secretary D.M.L.D. Bandaranayake to inquire into the Ministry’s plans to pay compensation for crop damages due to the fertiliser crisis proved futile.


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