Some groups have said they will march to Colombo in their thousands if the government does not address their demands. The peasants and small farmers have threatened to abandon all cultivation if they are not given fertiliser. The demonstrations resumed when the lockdown was lifted last month, the rural masses fearing that their crops would fail without fertiliser and other necessary agrochemicals, throwing them deeper into poverty. The farmers’ protests, which initially began in June, were halted during the six-week lockdown imposed on August 21 in response to the Delta variant rapidly spreading across the island. With Sri Lanka’s annual imports of fertiliser costing about $US400 million, the government also wants to end the meagre fertiliser subsidy it provides farmers. Colombo also slashed many other imports to try and save its foreign exchange holdings. The real reason for the ban, however, was because the government confronted a rapid drop in foreign reserves caused by the global crisis and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. President Rajapakse attempted to justify the ban by claiming that chemical fertiliser, along with pesticides and fungicides, had caused health problems in rural areas. ![]() ![]() ![]() The protests were precipitated by the Rajapakse government’s sudden decision in April to ban imports of chemical fertiliser and other agrochemicals. Peasants growing paddy, vegetable and other commercial crops have held demonstrations in paddy fields, farmland and in the cities. Tens of thousands of farmers in Sri Lanka have been involved in daily protests since the beginning of September to demand fertiliser be provided for paddy cultivation during the Maha (north-east monsoon) season.
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