Plantation Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana said the Government will provide the fertiliser needed for export crops - tea, rubber and coconut shortly.
He said steps have already been taken to import stocks of fertiliser for tea cultivation. Responding to a question raised during the Budget debate in Parliament yesterday, November 20, the Minister said that Sri Lanka is currently receiving the fertiliser shipments ordered by the Government.
“President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has taken a firm decision to promote organic farming to protect the environment and the health of our people. But he had given a very clear guarantee, that if he must be flexible, for the greater good, he will not hesitate to do so,” he said.
According to him, the yield from last year’s tea harvest was 280 million kilograms and this year the Plantation Ministry is expecting a higher yield of nearly 310 million kilograms.
“In Sri Lanka’s history, the highest export earning from coconut and rubber, which is over US 1 billion each, is expected to be recorded this year,” the Minister added, rejecting Opposition claims of a crisis in this sector as baseless.