President Tells Starving Sri Lanka That Green Anti-Fertilizer Policy Was a ‘Mistake’

The president of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa admitted in remarks on Monday that his controversial decision to ban the use of chemical fertilizers was a “mistake,” contributing to the nation’s worst economic crisis in its history.

“I feel that the failure to provide chemical fertilizer to farmers was a mistake, we have taken steps to provide that again,” the president stated as new members of his cabinet were sworn in Monday.

Seeking to become the first country to attain 100-percent organic farming, Rajapaksa’s ban on chemical fertilizers was first announced in 2020 and implemented in 2021 as part of his “Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour” national program. The move was promoted by citing health concerns over the use of fertilizers and shortages of foreign reserves to import the agricultural chemicals.

“Sri Lanka recently restricted the imports of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and weedicides due to public health concerns, water contamination, soil degradation, and biodiversity impacts. Although opposed by entrenched lobbies, this has created opportunities for innovation and investment into organic agriculture that will be healthier and more sustainable in future,” Rajapaksa boasted at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

The implementation of the ban unleashed disastrous consequences on the Sri Lanka population, culminating in a steep reduction in yield and a dramatic increase in food prices. The ban left farmers with no choice but to seek out fertilizers through black markets, where they found it at often unpayable prices. Rice production fell by 20 percent, forcing the country to import rice from China, India, and Pakistan. Tea, one of the country’s biggest exports, saw record losses of up to $425 million.

Sri Lanka is undergoing an unprecedented crisis and a systematic collapse characterized by fuel shortages, with increasingly expensive prices and queues so long people have died waiting for gasoline. The fuel shortage has also left the country with scheduled rolling blackouts and turning off lamp posts to save energy. Severe shortages of food and medicines also plague the nation and, due to the increase in gas canister prices, many Sri Lankans have resorted to cooking using firewood. Inflation in the South Asian nation reached upwards of 17 percent during March 2022.

Sri Lanka is also one of the many victims of China’s predatory debt traps under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Last week, the government of Sri Lanka announced that it would default on all of its $51 billion external debt and that it would seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

Intense protests across the nation directed against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa continue, with one more death and twelve injured civilians after police fired against protestors in the town of Rambukkana.

Rajapaksa and his family have ruled Sri Lanka for more than two decades now, and have been part of the nation’s politics ever since the nation gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1948. Many members of the Rajapaksa family have occupied positions in the Sri Lankan government, with 40 of them between 2010 and 2015 alone.

In spite of the ongoing protests, President Rajapaksa has stated he does not intend to resign.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.