The government of Sri Lanka seemed to have overturned a presidential decree limiting fertilizer imports to only organic fertilizers, only to state the move was to promote the production of organic fertilizer.
On Aug. 3, an opposition Member of Parliament noted that the Imports and Exports Control Department issued a document signed by the Finance Minister that seemed to lift the ban on chemical fertilizers. When asked about the letter, the Finance Minister responded to the politician that the ban remains in place.
A spokesman for the Finance Minister said the new regulations allow for importing ammonia and other liquid nitrogen because the products are needed to produce organic fertilizer. The spokesman said the new policy is to only allow products that will help produce organic fertilizer.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced in April that Sri Lankan agriculture would go completely organic (GM May 7, p. 42). The decree blocked the arrival of at least two vessels containing urea heading for Sri Lankan ports at the time. Additional orders were cancelled before they could be loaded.
At the time of the decree, a group of experts told the president there could be substantial crop loss that could result in lost income and increased food shortages in the country. There have been recent demonstrations against the policy along those very lines.
According to media reports, the tea crop experienced a sharp decline in output. Tea is the main agricultural export product of Sri Lanka. One tea producer said it costs 10 times more to produce tea with organic fertilizer, adding that major buyers were not willing to pay that much.
Sri Lanka imported a total of 659,000 mt of all fertilizers in 2020. Imports for the first half of this year at 197,000 mt are down about 30 percent compared to the same period last year at 279,000 mt, according to Trade Data Monitor.
Of the total fertilizers imported, urea accounts for the bulk. Urea imports in 2020 were reported at 540,000 mt. Imports for the first half of this year were down 35 percent at 149,000 mt from the same period last year at 229,000 mt.