The Director General of Agriculture, Dr. Ajantha de Silva says that the importation of organic fertilizer from China will be suspended due to the presence of pathogens in the even in the second sample.
Although it was planned to import organic fertilizer for the Maha season cultivation to be provided to the farmers expeditiously, the stock of fertilizer could not be brought under control due to the inclusion of pathogens. The DG further said that it is against the plant protection Act and had to stop the importation of the stock.
However, under the current situation, the Department of Agriculture will ensure that there is no fertilizer problem for the farming community and will take steps to produce fertilizer using nitrogen imported from abroad and provide it to farmers on a quick solution basis, he said.
He said that the country would have to import organic fertilizer further to meet the demand, but that samples of organic fertilizer would be strictly tested and imported in accordance with the Plant Protection Act and Sri Lanka Standards Institution’s 1704 standards.
Twenty three companies have so far come forward to supply organic fertilizer and it will be decided to import the samples that the company intends to supply and bring them to Sri Lanka only if they are at a level where they can be subjected to rigorous testing, the Director General said.
