Cause for the explosion and unbearable odor was due to the substandard quality of the liquid fertlizers that are distributed among farmers Dr. Ajantha de Silva, Director General of Agriculture said.
He was responding to a query made by Lankasara today (13) regarding the distribution of liquid fertilizer.
He said that the National Fertilizer Secretariat has taken steps to carry out research in this regard and it has been found such situation has arisen only on the fertilizer made out of animal parts but no any incident re[ported regarding liquid fertilizers produced with plant materials.
The Director General said that farmers across the country were once again in a state of crisis and plans were afoot to take immediate action to alleviate their situation.
The Director General said that it has not been possible to completely solve the fertilizer problems of farmers throughout the country and that there have been reports of some delays in the distribution of fertilizer by the National Fertilizer Secretariat or the Agrarian Service Centers.
The Department of Agriculture plans to make recommendations to the Ministry of Agriculture and the fertilizer Secretariat on the steps to be taken to prevent such crises in the forthcoming Yala season by properly analyzing the crisis situations that have arisen for cultivation during the Maha season this year. The Director General said that steps will be taken to take firm decisions after considering.
However, the Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage stated on the 11th that these liquid fertilizers contain high levels of nitrogen and explode due to their high activity.
At a press conference yesterday (12), Global Biosystems Engineer Chandana Seneviratne said that the explosion of cans containing liquid fertilizer was a natural process.
