Why import organic fertilisers?

The importation of inorganic fertilisers, and pesticides was banned by a Cabinet Memorandum dated April 27, 2021 to promote the use of organic fertilisers (OF) and natural pesticides. Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) promoted application of organic fertilisers made locally and Nano Urea, a liquid fertiliser imported from India. Thousands of farmers all over the country applied only organic fertilisers and nano urea to their crops. There were no pesticides available to control weeds and other pests.

Farmers applied only OF and nano urea for their Maha crop as there was no alternative. In most paddy fields the crop remains stunted due to nutrient deficiencies. As a result farmers are now reporting decreased yields indicating that OF did not provide adequate nutrients to the crop. It is because of the drop in yields that the government allocated a large sum of money to be paid to the farmers as compensation. Even those who cultivated other field crops, vegetable, floricultural and plantation crops such as tea and rubber are also reporting drop in the quantity and quality of their harvest in spite of applying OF and nano urea.

There is a need for improving on-farm nutrient management using an integrated nutrient management approach, combining inorganic and organic fertilisers. In most of the annual cropping systems managed with inorganic fertilisers such as urea, TSP and MOP application of organic fertiliser as a supplement is essential. The total benefits of inorganic fertilisers can be realised only by having adequate organic matter levels in the soils by applying organic fertilisers. However OFs cannot replace inorganic fertilisers for obvious reasons.

Green manure crops such as glyricdia, crotolaria, etc. and animal wastes used to manufacture OF are available in the country. Instead of promoting the use of these materials to make OF and getting farmers to implement other agronomic measures to increase soil organic matter level , it is difficult to understand why the government is keen to import OF from China which are supposed to be made from sea weeds. Imported organic fertilisers pose a high risk of contaminating our soils and water resources. It may have dormant weed seeds , pathogenic bacteria, and fungi which may cause disease outbreaks among crops, livestock and humans leading to heavy economic losses. OF imported from China a few months ago (fortunately these were not allowed to be off-loaded) were reported to contain some pathogenic bacteria such as Erwinia spp and another group of bacteria of Bacillus spp., as confirmed twice by the National Plant Quarantine Service, Sri Lanka . According to Prof Devika de Costa of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya (The Island of 24/ Jan.) the potential disease damage to a wide range of crops grown in Sri Lanka that could be caused by application of an organic fertilizer containing plant pathogen such as Erwinia is enormous and could last for a very long period, causing substantial economic and environmental damage along with human health hazards. Once the pathogenic organism/s enter into our eco-system, it is not easy to recover from the damage. It is the people of the country who will have to face the brunt of this undesirable activity of the Ministry of Agriculture. In addition to the risk involved the government has to pay for the imported OF in dollars which we are in short supply. Thus, importing OF is likely to affect the agriculture sector in particular and the country in general to a great extent.

Many crops are affected by pests and diseases. A fungal disease is affecting rubber crop and may have disastrous effects on the rubber production in the country. There were reports indicating that betel , a crop which earns a considerable amount of foreign exchange , cultivated in N.Western part of the country is affected by a fungus. Army worm which affected many crops is spreading. Pesticides are essential to control these organisms but the appropriate pesticides either are not available locally or very expensive. Farmers cannot afford to purchase such expensive pesticides. As in the case of fertilisers there are no appropriate pesticides available in the country for the coming Yala season and it is the country in general and the poor farmers in particular who have to face the consequences. No action appear to have been taken by the MOA to locally manufacture pesticides.

The government needs to implement an effective strategy to make inorganic fertilisers and pesticides available locally to farmers at a price which they can afford instead of importing OF spending a substantial amount of foreign exchange, which we are short of.

Dr. C.S.Weeraratna

csweera@sltnet.lk