Fertilisers available in sufficient quantities for Yala cultivation after three years – Minister

TSP to be given free of charge

By Ifham Nizam

The government has decided to provide during the Yala season, TSP fertiliser free of charge to all 1.2 million farmers cultivated paddy during the 2022 Maha season.

A ship carrying 36,000 tonnes of TSP is scheduled to arrive here from Egypt on 20 March.

Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera told a press briefing at the Information Department yesterday that the government had decided to provide the recommended amount of TSP fertiliser free of charge to 1.2 million farmers who cultivated 780,000 hectares of paddy in the 2022 Maha season regardless of whether they planted paddy in the 2022 Yala season or not.

The Ministry of Agriculture has made arrangements to provide organic fertilizers to the farmers who use TSP Fertilizer, Urea Fertilizer, and MOP Fertilizer.

TSP fertilizer is provided free of cost to all farmers and the government has focused on reducing the price of a 50 kg bundle of MOP fertiliser from Rs.19,500 to Rs.10,000.

The approval of the Presidential Food Safety Committee had been received, he said.

He also said that currently, 30,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser were in storage and another 50,000 tonnes would be procured.

About 38,000 tonnes of MOP fertilizers are available to the government fertilizer companies. For this reason, arrangements had been made to give all the fertilisers required for paddy cultivation to the farmers at the beginning of the new season without any shortage, a Ministry official said.