News

MONLAR accuses govt. of allowing India to play bigger role in country’s agriculture

Published

4 years ago

2021/11/26

By Rathindra Kuruwita

The government has allowed India to play a bigger role in Sri Lankan agriculture due to its recent actions regarding agrochemicals, moderator of Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR,) Chinthaka Rajapakshe alleged yesterday.

Rajapaksa told The Island that the government had banned agrochemicals to break the existing cartel that controlled fertiliser imports and thereby help its business associates.

Rajapakshe said that the actions of successive governments had greatly undermined the country’s food security and sovereignty.

“The government’s impotence was shown during the rice issue. It put out a number of gazette notifications to control the price of rice and the mill owners ignored these gazettes and created a shortage. The government finally allowed mill owners to determine prices. This shows that the government does not understand the ground realities, i. e. that it can’t influence the market because all the tools it has at its disposal are ineffective, and it has no plan.”

Rajapakshe said that since banning the import of agrochemicals, the government had not held any discussions with stakeholders involved in organic agriculture in the country.

“It is now obvious that the government has no intention of going green. All it wants is to ensure that its associates will control the agrochemical market in the future. However, the government is bungling that up, too,” he claimed.

Rajapakshe added that if the government held discussions with those already involved with organic farming, it would have learnt that the first thing to do was to restore the microbes in the soil biodiversity. A healthy soil had a variety of living organisms.

“Plant roots can also be considered as soil organisms in view of their symbiotic relationships and interactions with other soil components. These diverse organisms interact with one another and with the various plants and animals in the ecosystem, forming a complex web of biological activity. Because we have been overusing agrochemicals for decades, most of our soil is dead. While supplying compost is a component of this, it is not everything that we can do. There are so many other things we could have done.”

The government was compelled to ban the import of fertilizers because it faced a dollar shortage, Rajapakshe said. If the government was serious about reducing the cost of importing fertiliser it could have worked with farmers and introduced easy compost making methods, he said. “Instead, the government tried to give their associates an opportunity to mass produce compost and when that failed it resorted to importing organic fertiliser,” he said.

“This has also allowed India to come into our agriculture. Adani is already working in Sri Lanka and he plays a major role in Indian agriculture. I don’t think he is here only for the West Container Terminal,” he said.

MONLAR worked with a large number of farmers and most of them were ready to switch to organic farming if a transparent and feasible path was made available, he said. The ground reality was that the government’s actions were increasingly driving out small scale farmers and those lands were being taken over by large companies.

“This has been happening for a while and farmers are highly suspicious. The government keeps on transferring land owned by small farmers to large companies. These companies are export oriented. During the first phase of shifting to organic agriculture, there has been a drop in the yield. We must take that into account and increase the area of farmlands but we are doing quite the opposite,” he said.

On the other hand, the government had done nothing to educate the farmers on how to engage in organic farming. Those who planted tea used compost the way they used agrochemicals, which is not an effective way of using compost, he said. MONLAR had introduced certain practices used in Andhra Pradesh, India, to some Sri Lankan farmers on recovering lost soil diversity. Those practices have been embraced by farmers with great enthusiasm, he said.

“There are ways of boosting soil biodiversity within days. They have not been explored. Having TV programmes on organic agriculture is not enough, the government has to go to the farmers,” he said.

Moreover, compost is only one component of organic agriculture. There are a number of specialised equipment and machinery needed to successfully engage in organic agriculture. We also need things, like cutters and crushers, to make compost on a large scale. There are a number of Sri Lankan companies that produce these machines, but they have not been given the necessary support to expand production, he said.

Rajapakshe said that Sri Lanka also needed to gear its waste management system towards compost making. Although a large quantity of biodegradable waste was collected daily, most of it was thrown into dump sites. Compost could be created with the biodegradable waste and systems should be introduced to prevent heavy metal contamination.

“Heavy metals can come from things like batteries, bulbs and e-waste. We need to establish protocols to prevent such items from mixing with biodegradable waste,” Rajapakshe added.

All News Advertisement

News

NPP: Speaker won’t step down, CIABOC can investigate him

Published

2 hours ago

2026/02/10

Sahan Weerasooriya

Nihal

* New Auditor General should not have been sworn in before Speaker – Opp.

* Suspended House Dy. Sec. Gen. Chaminda Kularatne takes his case to CA today

General Secretary of the National People’s Power (NPP) Dr. Nihal Abeysinghe yesterday said that there was no need for Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne to step down in view of the complaint lodged against him with the CIABOC (Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption).

NPP General Secretary said so in response to The Island query whether the parliamentary group of the ruling party discussed the growing Opposition calls for the Speaker, who is also the Chairman of the Constitutional Council, to step down to facilitate the investigation.

The NPP parliamentary group consists of 159 MPs, including 18 National List (NL) members.

NL member Dr. Abeysinghe asked whether any other person, who had been investigated by the CIABOC, stepped down from his or her position to facilitate the inquiry.

The top official emphasised that the CIABOC could go ahead with its investigation without any hindrance.

Chamindra and Dr. Jagath

Opposition sources said that there hadn’t been a similar situation before and the CIABOC investigation into Speaker Dr. Wickramaratne is unprecedented as he heads the 10-member CC responsible and directly involved in all key appointments, including that of members to the CIABOC.

Sources pointed out that the newly appointed Auditor General, Ms. Samudrika Jayaratne, took the oath of secrecy before the Speaker on 5 February in Parliament after suspended Deputy General Secretary of Parliament Chaminda Kularatne complained to CIABOC.

In accordance with Section 9 of the National Audit Act, No. 19 of 2018, Jayaratne took the oath of secrecy in her capacity as the Auditor General of the National Audit Office and Chairperson of the Audit Service Commission.

Sources said that Kularatne would move the Court of Appeal today (10) against his removal at the behest of the Staff Advisory Committee, headed by the Speaker.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

News

Trinco Buddha statue case: All suspects, including 4 monks re-remanded till 11 Feb.

Published

2 hours ago

2026/02/10

Sahan Weerasooriya

One of the monks being brought to the Magistrate’s Court

The Trincomalee Magistrate’s Court yesterday (09) further remanded 10 persons, including four Buddhist monks, arrested on 19 January, 2026, for allegedly placing a Buddha statue in the coastal reservation, on 16 January.

The Buddhist monks, including Ven. Balangoda Kassapa Thera, and six other individuals, were further remanded until 11 February.

They have been accused of violating the Coast Conservation Act by placing a Buddha statue on a block of land belonging to the Trincomalee Bodhiraja Temple.

Of the four monks, Ven Balangoda Kassapa Thera and Ven Trincomalee Kalyanawansa Tissa Thera moved the Court of Appeal against the Magistrate’s Court decision. The case was heard on 22 January before a Bench comprising the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Rohantha Abeysuriya, and Justice K. Priyantha Fernando.

Manohara de Silva, PC, and President’s Counsel Uditha Igalahewa, PC, appearing for the petitioners, urged the Court to take up the matter urgently, describing it as a case of exceptional importance.

However, the Court of Appeal on 3 February dismissed the petitions against the remanding of Ven Balangoda Kassapa Thera and Ven Trincomalee Kalyanawansa Tissa Thera.

The order was issued by the Court of Appeal bench consisting of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Rohantha Abesuriya and Justice Priyantha Fernando.

News

Pakistan HC commemorates Kashmir Solidarity Day

Published

2 hours ago

2026/02/10

Sahan Weerasooriya

Exhibition focusing on Kashmir (pic courtesy PHC)

The Pakistan High Commission in Colombo recently organised a seminar and photo exhibition at the HC premises to commemorate Kashmir Solidarity Day. The following is the text of the statement issued by the PHC: “The event highlighted Pakistan’s continued support for the Kashmiri people and emphasised the importance of a peaceful and just resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Members of the Pakistani community, friends of Kashmir, and local journalists attended the event.

The seminar concluded with remarks by the High Commissioner of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Major General (R) Faheem-ul-Aziz, HI (M). He reaffirmed Pakistan’s principled stance on the Jammu & Kashmir issue and underscored the need for sustained international engagement. He noted that the situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) has remained a matter of concern for decades and called upon the international community, particularly the United Nations, to play its role in promoting peace, stability, and respect for human rights.

The High Commissioner emphasised that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute should be resolved in accordance with international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions, cautioning that prolonged tensions could have broader implications for regional peace and security.

The event featured keynote addresses by Shiraz Yunus and Ms. Suriya Rizvi, who highlighted the importance of dialogue, interfaith harmony, and peaceful coexistence. They also drew attention to humanitarian concerns and stressed the need for safeguarding fundamental rights in the region.

Earlier, messages from the President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, issued on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day, were read out by the Press Attaché and the Trade & Investment Attaché, respectively.

As part of the Photo Exhibition, photographs and digital presentations, depicting the humanitarian situation in IIOJK, were displayed during the seminar.”