Janatha Fertiliser to be revived
 

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Agriculture Development Minister Chamal Rajapakse on Thursday made an inspection tour of the Janatha Fertiliser Enterprises Ltd (JFEL) in Mattakkuliya.

This has been closed down over three years ago.

The JFEL was established in 1991 to provide chemical fertiliser, vegetable seeds and agro chemicals to farmers. Since February 1991, JFEL functioned under the Plantation Industries Ministry as a State owned company. In 1997, it was vested in the Agriculture Ministry and today it functions under the same Ministry.

Minister Rajapakse who visited the JFEL said the closure of this enterprise is a great injustice to the farmer community, as it was formed with the intention of providing an immense service to farmers.

The UPFA Government will take immediate measures to overcome the present problems encountered by the JFEL. After re-introduction, the JFEL will play a leading role for the success of the Government's decision to provide all kinds of 50Kg bag of fertiliser to farmers at Rs. 350, the Minister said.

The major task of the JFEL was to import chemical fertiliser such as urea, ammonia and later sell them to agri and plantation sectors as direct fertiliser or mixed fertiliser.

Equipment at the Madampitiya fertiliser mixing centre was used for this purpose.

The JFEL which spreads over nearly nine acres is equipped with several buildings, vehicles, furniture and other building equipment. It is a national crime to allow these equipment of the JFEL to decay. It is the responsibility of the Government to take maximum benefit from these national resources of the institute to provide key services to the people, the Minister said.

"Since the majority of the population is engaged in agriculture, this institution has the potential to do more for the agriculture sector," the Minister said.

The JFEL is located close to the Colombo Port. Therefore it has the capacity of minimise the storage cost. The re-utilisation of the biggest stores complex, new equipment and the trained staff of JFEL will impact greatly towards the future development of agriculture, he said.