Urea distributed by govt.: Farmers complain of short-weight

By Dinasena Ratugamage

Northern farmers allege that the bags of urea sold to them by the government do not contain 50 kilos each.However, the availability of ureas was a great relief to the farmers, they said. A number of farmers told The Island that they paid Rs. 10,000 rupees per bag of urea.

“However, these bags do not contain 50 kilos each,” a farmers’ association representative said.However, urea sold by private companies are priced between Rs. 20,000 and 25,000 they claimed.

“Before the government started distributing urea, these sellers were selling it at Rs. 40,000. With the government distributing urea, they too had to reduce prices,” he said.

Last week, India handed more than 44,000 metric tonnes of urea under a credit line to Sri Lanka. In May, India promised to supply 65,000 metric tonnes of urea for the Yala cultivation season. Sri Lanka’s annual fertiliser imports cost USD 400 million.