Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage assured that the organic fertilizer policy would not drive the country into a food crisis.
He further added that Nitrogen extracts and Potassium will be imported so that a reduction in harvest will not be experienced.
Minister Aluthgamage said that around a five percent fertilizer shortage prevails in the country, which was also addressed by providing organic fertilizer.
He added that none of the farmers are against the use of organic fertilizer and the protestin farmers are the ones refusing to use organic fertilizer.
“The chemical fertilizer mafia is created by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya” (SJB) and by the JVP. So the shortage of five percent is turned to a deficit of hundred percent by the Opposition political parties,” he said.
“The President’s intention is to to give Rs.12 500 to each per hectare to produce organic fertilizer. Earlier, these billions of rupees were used by four companies. However, the objective of the President is to distribute this money among nearly 2.5 million farmers in the country,” he added.He also added that around 200,000 farmers have registered with Agrarian Services Centres and programmes are being implemented at district level to make the farmers aware of organic fertilizer.