The price of chemical fertilizers in the world market is rising rapidly. On October 11 the price of one metric ton of urea has increased to 63,640 rupees (US$ 375 at current rate).A meeting was held recently under the chairmanship of Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera regarding the measures to be taken to provide fertilizer for the farmers for cultivation in the Maha season.
A group of officials from Ceylon Fertilizer Company, Commercial Fertilizer Company and National Fertilizer Secretariat and the Ministry secretary B. Wijeratne a participated in the discussion.At the meeting, Agriculture Minister instructed the National Fertilizer Secretariat to take steps to continue the fertilizer subsidy given to farmers in Sri Lanka despite the increase in the price of urea fertilizer in the world market.
Accordingly, a 50 kilogram Urea fertilizer bag will be given to the paddy farmers for Rs. 500 and at a price of Rs 1500 for other cropsThe government now purchases a 50 kilogram of urea fertilizer for a sum of Rs 3500 subsidizing Rs. 3000 for paddy cultivation and Rs. 2000 for other crops.
The Minister said more paddy fields will be cultivated in the Maha season than in the Yala season and instructed the officials to provide the opportunity for the farmers to purchase fertilizer without a shortage or inconvenience.Minister Amaraweera also instructed to commence a strong program to maintain coordination between agrarian organizations and agrarian service centers on the daily needs of fertilizer.rding to the information given by the National Fertilizer Secretariat, 800,000 hectares of paddy lands will be cultivated in the 'Maha' season this year. This would require 265,000 metric tons of Urea, 65,000 metric tons Triple Super Phosphate (TSP) and 75,000 metric tons of Muriate of Potash (MOP).