(UTV | COLOMBO) – Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera says that if the organic fertilizer suppliers supply inferior organic fertilizers during the maha season, those companies will definitely be blacklisted.
The Minister of Agriculture mentioned this in a discussion held at the Ministry of Agriculture with the representatives of the National Farmers Conference.
There, the farmer representatives pointed out to the minister that in the past season, some companies producing organic fertilizers issued them fertilizer containing lake soil, burnt ash, burnt tires and black-coloured soil in the 2021 maha season, calling it is organic fertilizer.
Therefore, they requested the minister not to release fertilizers without ensuring the quality of organic fertilizers during this season.
The minister mentioned that while the National Fertilizer Secretariat checks the quality of organic fertilizer samples, the agricultural centers will periodically test all the organic fertilizers provided to farmers and give them the opportunity to buy only high-quality organic fertilizers under the choice of the farmers.
The minister also said that the government is going to give a subsidy of Rs. 20,000 per farmer to buy organic fertilizers.