Organic fertiliser to be popularised

Uditha Kumarasinghe

COLOMBO: In a bid to minimise the increasing demand for chemical fertiliser, the Agricultural Development Ministry has implemented a special project to popularise the use of organic fertiliser.

Agricultural Development Ministry in collaboration with the Agrarian Services and Farmer Community Development Ministry and the Janatha Fertiliser Enterprise (JFE) will implement this project.

Under this project, new technology will be introduced to farmers on the manufacture of organic fertiliser within a short period. Initially, the Ministry has selected 1,000 farmers from eight districts to be trained for manufacturing organic fertiliser, an Agricultural Development Ministry spokesman told the Daily News.

The JFE will purchase the entire organic fertiliser stock produced these manufacturers. Arrangements have been made to give a 50 Kg bag of organic fertiliser to farmers at Rs.350.

At the initial stage, the JFE intends to introduce organic fertiliser for paddy cultivation. Later organic fertiliser will also be introduced for vegetable and fruit cultivation.

"According to statistics, only last year, 5,40,000 Metric tons of chemical fertiliser have been imported to Sri Lanka spending Rs.14,000 million.

Therefore, the intention of the Ministry is to direct nearly 20 per cent of farmers to use organic fertiliser within two years. Through this move, the Ministry hopes to save nearly Rs. 3,000 million annually goes to foreign countries to import chemical fertiliser."

The inauguration ceremony of this organic fertiliser project was held at the Yovun Nikethanaya, Anuradhapura under the patronage of Agrarian Services and Farmer Community Development Minister S.M. Chandrasena and Ports and Civil Aviation Deputy Minister Duminda Dissanayake recently.

At this ceremony, letters were handed over to the persons who have been selected as organic fertiliser manufacturers.