There are thousands of acres in the Polonnaruwa District which have not received a single drop of fertilizer for the past 45 days and currently there is a shortage of about 250 metric tons of fertilizer in Polonnaruwa said Mr. Aruna Keerthi.
He was speaking to a media briefing held at the Parakrama Samudra paddy field in the Polonnaruwa District, on the damage have been done to the Bandi crop in all major irrigation projects except the Mahaweli project.
Speaking further the Chairman of the Joint Venture Farmers’ Association said, “Now they are insult to the farmers. But we challenge Dr.Padeniya and the professors to appologise. Only organic fertilizer is not enough with organic farming. Farmers know how to do it. The patients have a right to know what medicine is prescribed tothem. But some doctors are not allowed to them. They questioning about what farmers putting into their paddy.
Organic farming is not just about fertilizer. It is about our environmental conditions, topography, annual rainfall, land location, water consumption especially water management. None of this has any basic principles or plans. They try to establish organic farming without even having a national water management policy by next season. There is no concern on matters such as how much organic fertilizer is required for a paddy field? When and how to bring them? We do not discourage organic farming. But we are against spreading lies and deceiving the society. I challenge Dr.Padeniya to tell the people about the harm caused by the medicines given to those patients. The patient has the right to know what medicine is prescribed for him and what side effects it causes.
One of those professors speaks to the media and said that there are people crying in crying in funerals for rent. That is what doing on organic fertilizer as well. We ask him how much money he got paid to cry for the government. We challenge that professor to come to an open discussion on some channel to find out how we are doing farming. We are standing for our farmers. Not for money. I am a farmer leader elected by the farmers in the Polonnaruwa district itself and a farmer leader of all business farmers’ organizations.
However, the Minister also says that the decisions have taken after discussion with the farmers’ organizations. But I would not have been summoned. I am the president of the Polonnaruwa Irrigation project Farmers’ Association. I do not even know about these decisions. Farmers ask from me. Not only me but also the officers of the Ministry do not know. Officers of the Department of Agriculture do not know. No one knows. How do you grow this organic paddy or farming? How much and how often should organic fertilizer be applied? How to put. How do you know what is contained in those organic fertilizers? We cannot allow this waste to be brought and destroy our paddy fields.
We are not against organic farming. To do this, we all need to know what to do. Mr. Padeniya should talk to us and have to ask those professors to come and make everyone aware of the real situation. Come to one platform. Let’s talk. Everyone should be made aware of this now. About how to do it. Without that, our paddy fields cannot be destroyed by doing these things all of sudden.
Today 45 days have passed for the paddy harvest in Polonnaruwa. But there are a large number of farmers who have not yet received any fertilizer. About 250 metric tons is required. Now they are going to take fertilizer from companies and distribute it. But then our harvest is over. What do you do in next season when now you don’t even have a plan to distribute fertilizer? The fields are yellowish. “ Yield decreases. The bundy crop is there now. There are paddy fields that have not yet seen a fertilizer seed. Now it is up to our farmers to make decisions. Ask everyone to come together and do this work with good awareness. The seed paddies we have today are those that have been accustomed to chemical fertilizers. Where are the eggs for us to make Sinhala rice? ” Several other farmers also commented.
We inquired from the Polonnaruwa District Agrarian Services Assistant Commissioner Asanga Somawansa regarding the question raised by the Chairman of the Business Agrarian Association regarding the fertilizer shortage.
“When the first round of fertilizer was distributed to Polonnaruwa, there were shortage of the supply to some extent. Also, some farmers did not have enough fertilizer. According to our statistics, nearly 500 farmers have not received any fertilizer at all. Although it has been planned to obtain fertilizer from private companies under the government program and sell a bag of fertilizer at price Rs.1500 to farmers, the required stocks of fertilizer have not been received yet. But M.O.P. and T.S.P. fertilizer have been provided. ” He added.
-Eesha Mudiyanse-