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Glyphosate ban set to be lifted? 

04 Aug 2022

BY Buddhika Samaraweera The Ministry of Agriculture is to launch a comprehensive cultivation programme in the coming months, with the Ministry currently considering the removal of the ban on Glyphosate, which is a widely used herbicide/weedicide that controls broadleaf weeds and grasses, in order to make the said programme a success. An official of the Ministry said that Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera has instructed the relevant parties to make the arrangements for a comprehensive cultivation programme in the coming months. Under this programme, he said that priority would be given to the cultivation of crops such as paddy, maize, tea, chillie, pea, green gram, soybean, potato, and banana. He further said that several parties such as scholars, farmers' organisations, and individual farmers are of the view that the ban on the use of Glyphosate should be removed in order to get a proper harvest of the said crops. He added that although Glyphosate is currently banned, some businessmen smuggle it from India, and sell it at higher prices of around Rs. 12,500 for four litres. The Ministry official added that Amaraweera, taking into account the views of the relevant parties, has stated that the Ministry's aim is to lift the ban on Glyphosate. Meanwhile, maize importers have agreed with the Ministry that they would pay a minimum guaranteed price of Rs. 160 per kg of maize from the next Maha cultivation season. This agreement has been made after Amaraweera requested the business community to encourage the farmers who grow maize in the country, by giving them a higher price, without spending the limited foreign exchange reserves on the import of maize. Amaraweera also said that at least 60,000 hectares (ha) of maize would be cultivated in the coming Maha season, and that the business community would be tasked with determining the guaranteed price that can be offered to farmers. Accordingly, they agreed to provide a price of Rs. 160 per kg of maize and to increase the prices when necessary. The annual requirement of maize in Sri Lanka is 400,000 metric tonnes (MT), and the annual local production of maize is between 280,000-300,000 MT. As the urea fertiliser and other agrochemicals were not provided for the cultivation of maize during the Yala season, maize cultivation in many areas has not been successful.  


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