Finance
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fertilizer during this harvest season in the face of a serious food shortage catastrophe during Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis.
Rajapaksa announced on Wednesday that the fertilizer will be delivered with Indian financial support and will be delivered here within 20 days of receipt.
He made a presentation at a discussion at the President’s House in Colombo on the current crisis in the country’s irrigation and agriculture sector.
Fertilizer will be supplied during the Yarra period, one of the two growing seasons in the island nations of the Indian Ocean, beginning in May and August. The country saw a drop in yield of nearly 30 to 40 percent during the end of the Maha season March and April.
Agricultural experts and farmers have blamed the Sri Lankan government’s decision to ban chemical fertilizers on April 27, 2021 as the reason for the sharp decline in cultivation.
In April 2021, President Rajapaksa admitted that the ban on fertilizers was wrong and overturned the decision, but the dollar crisis associated with the current economic crisis has been a major obstacle to fertilizer imports.
After meeting with the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka, he headed to India in early May 2022. Milinda Moragoda in India secured the coveted fertilizer delivery.
After meeting with Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Fertilizer, India, the Sri Lankan High Commission of India announced that India has agreed to supply the 65,000 tonnes of urea needed for the Yarra season.
India has endured the worst economic crisis since its independence and has helped its southern neighbors with nearly $ 3 billion to provide food, fuel, medicines, fertilizers and other necessities.
