Government’s own food crisis

There is general consensus in the scientific community that organic agriculture can reduce crop yields. Citing three global meta-data analyses, mimecam and cam (2018) told That on average, yield reductions in organic farming systems can be 19–25%, depending on the crop and agro-climatic region. To switch to 100% organic agriculture, a country must have strong scientific evidence and carefully planned methodologies with targeted actions. Otherwise, if food security cannot be achieved by other means, it will plunge into a food crisis.

biological frenzy

In May, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered a moratorium on imports of chemical fertilizers to make the island nation’s agricultural sector completely organic. By that time, the Yala harvest season (May to August) had begun and farmers were using agro-chemicals available in the market. However, no additional agro-chemicals were to be released in the market. The government has said that if there is any damage to the crop due to this decision, then the affected farmers will be compensated for it. It is not clear how the government was planning to separate the yield loss related to agro-chemical scarcity from the yield loss due to natural causes, attitude of farmers etc.

It is now clear that when the Sri Lankan government made this policy decision, it had neither solid scientific knowledge nor a clear plan of action. It took half-hearted advice from some opportunists who regularly say publicly that only organic and conventional agriculture is safe for the environment and for humans. Not only did the government believe that there would be little or no loss of produce from agriculture that was only organic; It also seemed that by October 2021, all plant nutrients in the country could be organically produced. If the organic farming production system is so simple and straightforward, why is only 1.5% of agricultural land globally organic? Sri Lanka has relied almost entirely on its own rice production since the mid-2000s. Couldn’t it keep it?

Unsurprisingly, even when the Maha Season officially began on October 15, the country was still short of the required quantity of organic fertilizers. Since nitrogen (N) is the most important plant nutrient for high yields in Sri Lanka, officials have estimated that for this great season, some major crops, including paddy and tea, require about 0.1 million tonnes of N. This is equivalent to about 15 million tonnes of manure. By the end of August 2021, the country produced only 3 million tonnes of manure.

Realizing that the required quantity of organic fertilizers could not be produced within five months, the government tried to import solid organic fertilizers in September. According to the Plant Protection Act, No. 35 of 1999, no organic material containing harmful organisms can be imported into the country. In addition, Sri Lanka standards (SLSI 1704) require all imported solid organic fertilizers to be devoid of any micro-organisms. A tender was offered to a Chinese fertilizer company for the supply of about 0.1 million tonnes of solid organic manure. Later it turned out that two samples provided by this company did not pass the quality standards. This message was given by the officials to the company. However, for unknown reasons, the first load of that solid organic fertilizer is said to have arrived in Sri Lankan waters and is still sailing in search of an opportunity to reach the shores of Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, farmers started getting angry with not having fertilizers to start farming. They began to protest, demanding that fertilizer be made available in all major agricultural areas and the separation of early land preparation practices. They did not want to start commercial farming without any assurance from the government on the availability of necessary fertilizers.

Then, the government was advised to purchase a liquid Nano-N fertilizer from the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Corporation Limited (IFFCO), which some said, is organic and 100% efficient. However, as per the website of IFFCO, this liquid fertilizer is actually nano-urea and hence cannot be used in organic agriculture as it is chemical in nature. Considering the urgency of the situation, the government ordered 3.1 million liters of nano-urea from IFFCO, which has only 4% N. The first quantity was air-lifted to Sri Lanka and distributed among paddy farmers as Nano-Raja. Farmers were advised to apply 2.5 liters of Nano-Raja as a foliar spray.

Scientists doubt the effectiveness of this fertilizer as Sri Lanka has received heavy rainfall in the past few weeks. However, even in India, there is largely limited evidence on the effectiveness of this product. Little is known about the health concerns arising from prolonged exposure to nano-particles. Furthermore, 2.5 liters of Nano-Raja provides only 100 g N when at least 50 kg N is required for paddy crop. Farmers will get maximum 5-10 kg N through locally available compost. The quality of these manures, which are mostly produced using municipal solid waste, also cannot be guaranteed, as no quality control mechanism exists.

crop failure

Now, more than a month after the season began, only 25-40% of the farmers in Sri Lanka have taken up paddy cultivation. The distributed quantity of N fertilizers is not sufficient to achieve the expected yield target (4-6 tonnes per hectare) of the farmers. Therefore, reduction in national paddy production is an imperative. The same would be true for other crop fields. Therefore, the government should do something within a very short period of time to at least make available sufficient quantity of N fertilizers to the paddy farmers and tea growers. Failure to do so would reduce foreign exchange earnings from tea, increase food prices, create food shortages and promote food imports. The government would have to import food from other countries – food produced using agro-chemicals because of the high price of organic food. This would be ironic because food without agro-chemicals was one of the major policy objectives of the ban on the import of agro-chemicals.

The government’s comprehensive policy document titled ‘Visual of Prosperity and Splendor’ promises to provide safe food and food security to the nation. However, the unfair policy of banning agro-chemicals, based on insufficient scientific evidence and misconceptions, hit Sri Lankan agriculture and plantation cropping sectors like a cyclone. With the economy crumbling because of COVID-19, this was unnecessary. On 24 November, the Sri Lankan government announced that it would partially lift the ban on chemical fertilizers and allow the private sector to import these fertilizers. However, considerable damage has already been done, with farmers claiming that their crop production has declined, food prices are rising, and a food crisis is brewing.

RS Dharmakirti, Professor in Soil Fertility and Nutrient Management, Peradeniya University, Sri Lanka