The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with funding through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will distribute 36,000 metric tonnes of Triple Super Phosphate (TSP) fertilizer to all paddy farmers in Sri Lanka through the Ministry of Agriculture.
The amount of TSP provided per farmer will be determined based on the area they cultivated in the 2022/2023 Maha cultivation season.
The distribution list along with the land extent cultivated during this Maha season used to determine the amount of TSP fertilizer allocated per farmer has been published and displayed at all Agrarian Service Centres of the Department of Agrarian Development.
FAO invited all eligible paddy farmers to visit their respective Agrarian Service Centre and ensure their details have been incorporated. The distribution lists will be displayed until 5 January 2023, and the date of fertilizer distribution will be shared through the Agrarian Service Centres.
Sri Lanka has imported 103,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer after ban was lifted at the end of December 2021, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said, though importers were given licenses to bring down more.
However forex shortages were preventing the opening of letters of credit, blocking imports.With the fertilizer ban being implemented in 2020, paddy production had fallen 40 percent in the 2021 Maha season.
The ban was lifted in November 31, 2021 and National Fertilizer Secretariat data showed that 103,832 MT of fertilizers have been imported from December 01, 2021 to June 08, 2022, Minister Amaraweera said.
The amount of the imported chemical fertilizer is Urea -20,262 KCL -13,000 SOA -61,233Kieserite -6,411, SOP -168 ,TSP -1241.5,,CES -443.2 and DAP -811.2
Minister Amaraweera said, National Fertilizer office has given permission to import another 38,503.5 MT of Urea.But fertilizer importers were unable to open Letters of Credit due to lack of foreign exchange.
They were also owed Rs 22 billion from the government for subsidized sales of fertilizer and private importers were reluctant to get involved in the business, Amaraweera said.
The fertilizers actually imported were less than the amounts that were given permission to import.
“All other fertilizers that have been imported are less than the amount that has been permitted to import, and the main reason is inability to open LCs due to lack of forex,”Amaraweera said.
For the 2022/2023 Maha season the cabinet had given approval for state fertilizer firms to import 150,000 metric tonnes of urea, 45,000 MT of MOP and 36,000 MT of TSP.
Minister Amarweera said, to get the funds to import the necessary fertilizers, discussions have started with the World Bank, Asia Development bank and other international financial institutions.
