Media breafing on fertilizer

Media breafing on fertilizer

• Country’s Total paddy cultivation extent both Yala and Maha season in 2020 – 1.3 million hectares
• Other Field Crops – 97120 hectares (DG – Planning)
• Fertilizer import in 2020

574705.9    Metric Tons

Expenditure exceeds Rs.36 Billion

(Sources – National Fertilizer Secretariat)

• Annual chemical fertilizer import grossly 1260053   Metric Tons

Source – National Fertilizer Secretariat

• Required foreign exchange

Over Rs.56 Billion

(This caiculation may be varied depending on the value of dollar and fluctuation of oversease market price.

For paddy                    3,83,000 MT

For other crops           8,77,053.5 MT

Total                            1,260,053.5

(Sources – National Fertilizer Secretariat)

For Paddy

For other crop cultivation

(Source – National Fertilizer Secretariat)

Action is being taken to convert the Commercial Fertilizer Company in to on Institution Producing supply and distribution of organic fertilizer in association with local government institutions.(Cabinet approval received)

• In addition arrangements are being made to establish chemical fertilizer company jointly with the Lanka Phosphate Company operating under the Ministry of Industries.
• It has also been planned to manufacture Single Super Phosphate as a substitute to Triple Super Phosphate (TSP) by using Apatite of Eppawala Deposit.
• At Present 95000 Metric Tons of TSP are imported annually.
• The import cost on the same is Rs.7 billion (USD 38 Million)
• Our target is to increase the use of organic fertilizer upto 30% within the next 03 years. (SaubagyayeDekma)
• It has been planned to establish organic fertilizer production units regionally to produce organic fertilizer by using garbage collected daily by 341 local government institutions and to distribute the same among farmers.
• 562 Development Officers will be attached to Agrarian Services Divisional Offices by the National Fertilizer Secretariat. They are responsible for getting 10 organic fertilizer manufactures involved in producing 10 MT each per month from each Division by 2023.
• 19 major organic fertilizer manufactures having NFS licence to engaged in production will be got involved in the production process ( 10 manufactures have already commenced operations.)
• Excessive use of chemical fertilizer has led to blue child births while medical surveys reveal that 30 blind child birth reported per month.
• The numbers Kidney and Cancer patients are on the increase.
• Farmers have been convinced that excessive fertilizer use would lead to higher yield and companies fill the soil with poisous ingredients.
• A part from that the Ministry of Industries and the Ministry of Agriculture are jointly planning to establish Urea producing company with foreign investment.

E.g.  Fertilizer use by certain countries are as follows;

• Australia 68.1 kg per hectare
• Israel 280.7 per hectare
• Sri Lanka 300 kg per hectare
• The harvest per hectares in Australia is 10 MT.
• It was 4.6 MT in our country.

( FAO Report and The Global Economy.Com)

• Soil testing equipments are made available to 562 Agrarian Services Centre ( To be imported from India)
• Just as the practice followed in developed countries, India too has taken steps to issue fertilizer based soil testing
• Bhutan is a country mainly apply organic fertilizer in agriculture.

Fertilizer Use during last year

• Total quantity imported
• Expenditure incurred
• Countries using 100% of organic fertilizer (Based on which report and submit those reports)
• Countries using 50% of organic fertilizer
• Countries using 20% of organic fertilizer (Based on which reports and submit the same)
• Fertilizer Use (Data based on which reports)

• Fertilizer Use in Asian Countries

• Data on which basis
• Number of countries carried out soil testing?
• Extent under crop cultivation other than paddy which use fertilizer - 1471443 hectares (per year)
• Countries using organic fertilizer (at the percentage of)100%, 50%, 20% not available Majority of countries use both chemical and organic fertilizer in crop cultivation and current trend is to apply more organic fertilizer instead of chemical fertilizer

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