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- Farmers’ Unions allowed signing contracts up to Rs.10 million District Farmers’ representatives on behalf of 1.1 million farmers across the island, have urged President Gotabaya Rajapaksa not to reverse the steps taken to use organic fertiliser.
The farmers’ representatives highlighted that it was their absolute duty and responsibility to return to the traditional farming methods and provide the people with a non-toxic healthy diet.
They added that the citizenry will be grateful to the President for his decision to nourish a healthy next generation for Sri Lanka.
The farmers’ representatives assured President Rajapaksa that all the farmers in the country would support the President in overcoming the challenge of going for an agriculture based on organic fertiliser, as a team, for the benefit of all people in Sri Lanka just like the country once faced the challenge of concluding the battle against terrorism.
Farmers’ representatives expressed these views at a meeting with the District Farmers Representatives of Sri Lanka National Farmers’ Organisation at the Presidential Secretariat on Thursday. This Organisation comprises 1.1 million farmers, 17,000 farmers organisations and 563 Agrarian Service Centers.
The President briefed the farmers’ representatives on the measures to be taken by the Government to address the use of organic fertilisers.
President Rajapaksa said that this was not a sudden decision and this initiative was launched to fulfill a promise made in his “Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour” policy statement, as the presidential candidate.
The previous governments on a number of occasions have tried to convert into organic agriculture. However, the President said that the reasons for their failure would be studied and the new program will be implemented rectifying those errors. Some people try to point this out as a reverse journey.
However, the President emphasised that the use of organic fertilizer, which is a new trend in the entire world, would take the country on a new path of agrarian economy.
