Sri Lanka’s failed all-organic experiment has sparked economic and humanitarian crisis

[Sri Lanka] is hit by worsening food shortage brought about by multiple factors, including loss of tourism due to Covid-19, vast government spending, tax cuts leading to revenue erosion, huge debt repayments to China, and the most significant – Rajapaksa government’s ill-timed decision to make agriculture 100 percent organic by banning chemical fertilizers.

The ban was opposed by many agriculture scientists and farmers, who warned that the sudden transformation can halve crop production.

Media reports said after the ban on agrochemical imports, farmers abandoned more than 30 percent of agricultural land. Because of this, the country is staring at a bigger food shortage as the forthcoming harvest in March is expected to be drastically lower.

With substandard organic fertilizer and pesticides, vegetable and fruit crop yields have reduced substantially.

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Sri Lanka’s deepening financial crisis is fast spiralling into a humanitarian crisis with experts fearing it could go bankrupt in 2022.

The situation has worsened to a level that one in four Sri Lankans, especially the young and skilled, wish to leave the country, which is evident from the long queues in the passport offices.

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