News

Foreign microorganisms could ruin local agriculture – environmentalist

Published

4 years ago

2021/10/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

Compost imports

by Rathindra Kuruwita

Foreign microorganisms, that entered the country through compost imports, could have a devastating effect on local agriculture, Sajeewa Chamikara of the Movement for Land and Agriculture Reform (MONLAR), said yesterday.

Chamikara said he was fully supportive of the decision to ban the import of agrochemicals, but allowing the import of compost was not acceptable.

“It’s very dangerous to import organic matter. It is not possible to avert serious major biosecurity incursions despite precautions. With imported compost new pests and plant species can arrive and wreak havoc,” he said.

It is highly unlikely that the new biosecurity threats could be contained using organic pesticides or weedicides. Thus, agrochemicals will have to be imported to deal with the biosecurity threats. This will lead to a crisis in agriculture, Chamikra said.

“Adequate compost can be manufactured in Sri Lanka. The use of agrochemicals during the past 50 years have degraded our soil and that is why the productivity of our agricultural lands is low. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2018 said that 50% of agricultural lands in the central highlands had degraded due to overuse of fertilizer and soil erosion. We need to revitalise our soil with the use of compost, and we must increase our crop diversity,” he said.

Chamikara added that given that microorganisms in most agricultural lands had died due to the overuse of agrochemicals, it would take some time for the soil to recover. Until then, a mixture of compost and agrochemicals had to be used in some lands for a year or two, he said. For this purpose, the stock of agrochemicals in the country was adequate, he added.

“Once this is completed, we can move into more advanced stages of sustainable agriculture like ecological farming, agroforestry and analog forestry, which require little external inputs,” he said.

Due to various factors, Sri Lanka could not have analog forests, an approach to ecological restoration which uses natural forests as guides to create ecologically stable and socio-economically productive landscapes, Chamikara said. “Thus, the government needs to study what areas can be converted into ecological farming, agroforestry and analog forestry.

“In some areas due to the slopes that lead to soil erosion, we will have to continuously use compost especially in hill country vegetable farms. It will take decades to transition from organic farming to analog forests. The government must be practical and transparent, or the entire concept loses credibility,” the senior environmentalist said.

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SAARC journalists meet in New Delhi

Published

10 hours ago

2026/02/6

Priyan

President of SJF Sri Lanka Chapter Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi hands over a memento to Dr Alok Kumar Mishra Joint Secretary of the Association of Indian Universities

Members of the South Asian Journalists Forum have gathered at the University of New Delhi for a two day conference themed ‘Peace and Co-operation’.

Journalists from Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India are attending the conference hosted by the University of Delhi in collaboration with the India Chapter of SJF, and will deliberate on how the media can act as a catalyst for regional stability and mutual coexsistence.

A tree plantation campaign was also held at the Ghandi Bhawan premises of the University to mark the event and symbolize growing regional ties.

The Sri Lanka delegation is led by President of SJF’s Sri Lanka Chapter Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi.

News

Governor of Gujarat met with Sri Lanka PM to discuss exposition of Devnimori Relics

Published

11 hours ago

2026/02/6

Priyan

The Governor of the of Gujarat, Acharya Devvrat, along with the Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat, Harsh Sanghvi, met with Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya on Thursdy [February 05] at the Parliamentary Complex to discuss the arrangements related to the exposition of the Devnimori Sacred Relics of Lord Buddha, which have been brought to Sri Lanka under the patronage of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Government of India.

These sacred relics of Lord Buddha were discovered during archaeological excavations conducted in the 1960s at the historic Devnimori site in Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Until now, these relics had never been taken outside India. As a result of discussions held between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to Sri Lanka, the people of Sri Lanka have been granted this rare opportunity to venerate these sacred relics.

The exposition of the relics is being held for a period of seven days, from February 05 to February 11, at the Gangaramaya Temple in Hunupitiya, Colombo. Discussions were held between both parties regarding the arrangements related to this event.

The discussion was attended by Samar Nanda, Joint Secretary of the Indian Ministry of Culture; Dr. Satyanjal Pandey, Acting High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka; Abhijit Halder, Director General of the International Buddhist Confederation; along with several others.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]

News

INS GHARIAL makes port call in Colombo

Published

18 hours ago

2026/02/6

Priyan

The Indian Naval Ship (INS) GHARIAL made a port call in Colombo for operational turnarounds on 04 Feb 26. The Sri Lanka Navy welcomed the visiting ship in compliance with naval traditions.

Commanded by Commander Gaurav Tewari, INS GHARIAL is a vessel with a length of 124.8 meters.

During this visit, ten (10) Bailey Bridges, brought by ship, through the coordination of the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka, will be handed over to the Disaster Management Center. These bridges will provide temporary transportation links while bridges damaged across the island by adverse weather conditions are repaired.

The crew’s itinerary features scheduled goodwill activities with the Sri Lanka Navy, alongside visits to several tourist attractions across the island.