Opinion

Fertiliser testing and MONLAR’s claim

Published

5 years ago

2020/11/3

According to a news report (Island, 2-11-20), Mr. Chinthaka Rajapakshe, who is said to be the moderator of an organization known as the “Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR)” claims “a high probability that the fertilizer currently released to the market were of low quality and high in heavy metals, as the National Fertiliser Secretariat had stopped testing samples at local labs”.

It seems that these labs are currently non-functional because of the Covid crisis, and so foreign labs are used. Testing has not stopped. The non-analysis and lack of testing of compost fertilizers are ignored by MONLAR as they are tacitly supported by MONLAR! Here I will show that even if one of the world’s worst rock phosphates, e.g, Nauru phosphate from New Zealand, containing very high amounts of heavy metals (occurring naturally) were imported, it will still have NO TOXIC effect if applied to Sri Lankan soils for agricultural purposes. This is based on the research I have published in peer-reviewed journals. For instance, Mr. Rajapaksa should consult my publication in Environmental Geophysics and Health, August 2018 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-018-0140-x where a detailed discussion is found. Here we will explain all this more simply in the following.

However, first we must look at the political agenda of MONLAR itself. Although I am not aware of the current political strategy of MONLAR in detail, I personally knew some of the initial founders of this movement. They were Marxist militants who decided to launch a movement to capture and control the peasant farmers and convert them into a “revolutionary political force”. A key tactic was to rouse the farmers into opposing “big capitalist agricultural multi-nationals” and their genetically modified (GM) products and seeds. Imported fertilizers sold by “capitalist multi-nationals” were also targeted. The opposition to GM products and high-yielding hybrid seeds led them to back “traditional seed varieties”. These yield about a fifth of the harvest from modern hybrid seeds created by the rice scientists at Bathalagoda and other research Institutes. They were the real unsung heroes who have kept the exponentially increased population of the nation away from famine since World War II. A return to traditional seeds will mean a return to shortages, famines, and re-importing “milchaard haal”.

But MONLAR and other backers of “traditional seeds” and compost fertilizers etc., are either mesmerized by false claims and fake science, or are cynically using them to further their political agendas. They want to negate the good work our scientists. Even the Minister Pathirana seems to have been tragically mislead into presenting a motion for “traditional seeds” in place of hybrids (Island, 02-11-20). The motion states that “this Parliament resolves …(to).. educate the public on the nutritious value of the traditional, local rice varieties available in the Sri Lankan market at present, of the new rice varieties consumed at present, and of the varieties of rice that should be consumed by people with various diseases, and also to provide facilities for farmers to cultivate those varieties of paddy.” So the minister wants to cure diseases with rice, while 30% of kids come hungry to school! Unfortunately, it is the minister who has to be educated. This may be a case where the minster’s scientific and medical advisors dare not contradict the minster and put him right!

The opposition to imported fertilizer led these groups to support the use of compost whose composition and quality are never subject to analysis. But MONLAR rushes to claim that imported triple phosphate is full of heavy-metal toxins profiting from a lapse in local testing due to an epidemic! This cry had already found resonance with the “Natha Deviyo” group led by Ms. Senanayake of “Hela-suvaya” together with Dr. Nalin de Silva, then at the Kelaniya Science faculty, and Ven. Rathana, then an MP from the JHU. They claimed that many illnesses, e.g., Kidney diseases in the Rajarata, are caused by arsenic and other toxins in imported fertilizers and herbicides, even though these claims were, and are now found to be completely contrary to exhaustive investigations by several independent research groups. For instance, strong evidence now suggest that the Rajarata Kidney disease is contracted by people who drink water from wells containing excessive amounts of fluoride and hard water, both of geological origin (See: Imbulana et al., Science of the Total Environment, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140716 and references therein ); in contrast, those who drink water from agricultural canals, rivers and tanks carrying fertilizer runoff are free of the disease!

Why do I say that even if one of the cheapest and “worst available” mineral phosphates, e.g., Nauru phosphate were used in agriculture, it will have no effect on our health? Let us consider this in detail.

Cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) are some of the dangerous metal toxins found in minerals.

We will take the example of Cd, as the discussion for other toxins follows the same lines. Nauru rock phosphate contains some 90 mg of cadmium per kg of phosphate, where as a more expensive phosphate fertilizer may contain less than 20 mg of cadmium per kg of fertilizer. European “green” activists who are much like their counterparts in Sri Lanka have clamored for lowered amounts of cadmium (and other such toxins) in fertilizers imported to Europe.

Let us consider that we imported the Nauru phosphate that has been used in New Zealand, and containing some 90 mg of Cd per kilo of rock phosphate. A farmer usually applies some 30 to 60 kg of phosphate fertilizer per hectare of land in planting rice, depending on the soil. The fertilizer is ploughed into about a depth of about 8-12 inches (20-30 cm). Taking a figure of 30 cm depth in a hectare of land, the 60 kg of fertilizer containing 60 x 90 mg (i.e., 0.54 g) of cadmium are dispersed in a soil volume of 3000 cubic meters, or about 3900 metric tonnes of soil of density 1.3 g/litre. So, 0.54 g of cadmium are dispersed in this volume of soil, increasing the soil cadmium concentration by a mere 1.38 micrograms/kg, i.e., 1.38 parts per quadrillion. This is an utterly minuscule amount as the ambient level of cadmium in the soil may be as high as 0.4 mg/kg even in virgin forest soil (Chandrajith and Dissanayake 2012), and this is similar to values known for European soils. NO LEACHING what ever was assume even in estimating the 1.38 parts per quadrillion, and of course this is not true. The monsoonal rains can wash off many many times more than the 1.38 part per quadrillion.

So, when MONLAR claims that substandard fertilizer probably containing dangerous levels of toxins is being imported to Sri Lanka and that no chemical analysis is done, this is just fear-mongering and nothing else. The calculation that I presented needs only a knowledge of simple arithmetic and MONLAR, claiming expertise in agriculture should be able to do this before raising alarms.

This does not mean that EXCESS USE of fertilizer does not pollute the environment. The excess phosphate fertilizer gets washed off into the aquatic ecosystem via rivers and canals and create Algal blooms and weed growth. They de-oxygenate the water and asphyxiate aquatic organisms. The seasonal increase in phosphate levels in the Rajarata tanks is given in Table 1 of a research publication that I authored with other collaborators in Environmental Geochemistry and Health: Volume 37, Issue 2 (2015). This applies to macroscopic components like phosphates contained in the fertilizer, but NOT to the microscopic components (trace amounts) like Cd, As, and Pb. The metal toxins largely come into the environment from other sources (e.g., mining, burning of fossil fuels, acid rain, burning garbage, smoking cigarettes etc) as discussed in relevant publications.

Chandre Dharmawardana,

National Research Council of Canada.

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Opinion

A harsh reflection of Sri Lanka’s early-warning gap

Published

20 hours ago

2025/12/17

Sahan Weerasooriya

Floods caused by Cyclone Ditwah

Cyclone Ditwah:

Cyclone Ditwah, which swept across Sri Lanka at the end of November, caused massive damage to the country, the extent of which need not be mentioned here, as all are aware of it by now. Heated arguments went on among many parties with regard to how this destruction could have been mitigated and who should take responsibility. Although there may have been shortcomings in several aspects of how we responded to Ditwah, this article highlights a critical area that urgently requires attention if we are to protect ourselves from similar hazards in the future.

As is common in many situations, it has once again showcased a concerning weakness in the country’s disaster-management cycle, the gap between issuing early warnings and the expected public response. The Meteorological Department, the Irrigation Department, the National Building Research Organization, and other authorities issued continuous warnings to evacuate well in advance of imminent threats of flooding, landslides, and water hazards. However, the level of preparedness and community reaction fell short, leading to far greater personal property damage, including loss of a few hundred lives.

Sri Lanka is not unfamiliar with natural disasters. One of the most devastating disasters in our history could be considered the 2004 Tsunami event, which resulted in over 35,000 deaths and over $1 billion in property damage in the coastal belt. After the event, the concepts of disaster management were introduced to the country, which we have been adhering to since then. Again in 2016, the country faced massive river flooding, especially in western and southern regions, and until recently experienced repeated floods and landslides due to rains caused by atmospheric disturbances, though less in scale. Each of these events paved the way for relevant authorities to discuss and take appropriate measures on institutional readiness, infrastructure resilience, and public awareness. Yet, Cyclone Ditwah has demonstrated that despite improvements in forecasting and communication, well supported by technological advancements, the translation of warnings into action remains critically weak.

The success of early-warning systems depends on how quickly and effectively the public and relevant institutions respond. In the case of Ditwah, the Department of Meteorology issued warnings several days beforehand, supported by regional cyclone forecasting of neighbouring countries. Other organisations previously mentioned circulated advisories with regard to expected flood risk and possible landslide threats on television, radio, and social media, with continuous updates. All the flood warnings were more than accurate, as low-lying areas were affected by floods with anticipated heights and times. Landslide risks, too, were well-informed for many areas on a larger spatial scale, presumably due to the practical difficulties of identifying such areas on a minor scale, given that micro-topography in hill country is susceptible to localised failures. Hence, the technical side of the early-warning system worked as it should have. However, it is pathetic that the response from the public did not align with the risk communicated in most areas.

In many affected areas, people may have underestimated the severity of the hazard based on their past experiences. In a country where weather hazards are common, some may have treated the warnings as routine messages they hear day by day. As all the warnings do not end up in severe outcomes, some may have disregarded them as futile. In the meantime, there can be yet another segment of the population that did not have adequate knowledge and guidance on what specific actions to take after receiving a warning. This could especially happen if the responsible authorities lack necessary preparedness plans. Whatever the case may be, lapses in response to early warnings magnified the cyclone’s impact.

Enforcing preventive actions by authorities has certain limitations. In some areas, even the police struggled to move people from vulnerable areas owing to community resistance. This could be partly due to a lack of temporary accommodation prepared in advance. In some cases, communities were reluctant to relocate due to concerns over safety, privacy, and the status quo. However, it should be noted that people living in low-lying areas of the Kelani River and Attanagalu Oya had ample time to evacuate with their valuable belongings.

Hazard warnings are technical outputs of various models. For them to be effective, the public must understand them, trust them, and take appropriate action as instructed. This requires continuous community engagement, education, and preparedness training. Sri Lanka must therefore take more actions on community-level disaster preparedness programs. A culture of preparedness is the need of the day, and schools, religious institutions, and community-based organisations can play an important role in making it a reality. Risk communication must be further simplified so that people can easily understand what they should do at different alert levels.

Cyclone Ditwah has left, giving us a strong message. Even an accurate weather forecast and associated hazard warnings cannot save lives or property unless the public responds appropriately. As it is beyond doubt that climate change intensifies the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, people in Sri Lanka have to consider preparedness as a routine part of life and respond to warnings promptly to mitigate damage from future disasters.

(The writer is a chartered Civil Engineer)

by Eng. Thushara Dissanayake

Opinion

Feeling sad and blue?

Published

2 days ago

2025/12/16

Sahan Weerasooriya

Rowan Atkinson

Here is what you can do!

Comedy and the ability to have a good laugh are what keep us sane. The good news to announce is that there are many British and American comedy shows posted up and available on the internet.

They will bring a few hours of welcome relief from our present doldrums.

Firstly, and in a class of its own, are the many Benny Hill shows. Benny is a British comedian who comes from a circus family, and was brought up in an atmosphere of circus clowning. Each show is carefully polished and rehearsed to get the comedy across and understood successfully. These clips have the most beautiful stage props and settings with suitable, amusing costumes. This is really good comedy for the mature, older viewer.

Benny Hill has produced shows that are “Master-Class” in quality adult entertainment. All his shows are good.

Then comes the “Not the Nine o’clock news” with Rowan Atkinson and his comedy team producing good entertainment suitable for all.

And then comes the “Two Ronnies” – Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, with their dry sense of humour and wit. Search and you will find other uplifting shows such as Dave Allen, with his monologues and humour.

All these shows have been broadcast in Britain over the last 50 years and are well worth viewing on the Internet.

Similarly, in The USA of America. There are some really great entertainment shows. And never forget Fats Waller in the film “Stormy Weather,” where he was the pianist in the unforgettable, epic, comedy song “Ain’t Misbehavin”. And then there is “Bewitched” with young and glamorous Samantha Stevens and her mother, Endora who can perform magic. It is amazing entertainment! This show, although from the 1970s was a milestone in US light entertainment, along with many more.

And do not overlook Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy, and all the Disney films. Donald Duck gives us a great wealth of simple comedy.

The US offers you a mountain of comedy and good humour on Youtube. All these shows await you, just by accessing the Internet! The internet channel, ‘You tube’ itself, comes from America! The Americans reach out to you with good, happy things right into your own living room!

Those few people with the ability to understand English have the key to a great- great storehouse of uplifting humour and entertainment. They are rich indeed!

Priyantha Hettige

Opinion

There is much to learn

Published

2 days ago

2025/12/16

Sahan Weerasooriya

After the recent disaster, a great deal of information has been circulating on WhatsApp and YouTube regarding our reservoirs, highways, etc.

In many of these discussions, people have analysed what went wrong and how the damage could have been prevented. My question is this: why do all these knowledgeable voices emerge only after disaster strikes? One simple reason may be that our self-proclaimed, all-knowing governing messiahs refuse to listen to anyone outside their circles. It is never too late to learn, but has any government decision-maker read or listened to these suggestions?

When the whole world is offering help to overcome this tragedy, has the government even considered seeking modern forecasting equipment and the essential resources currently not available to our armed forces, police, and disaster-management centres?

B Perera