President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has instructed officials to take steps to provide fertiliser to farmers in time for the Yala Season.
The President made these remarks during a discussion at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday with the Task Force on fertiliser.
The President said organic fertiliser is produced locally using various techniques and emphasised the need to make farmers aware of using organic fertiliser and stressed on the need to deploy officers of the Fertiliser Task Force for this purpose.
The President also claimed the lack of proper awareness on the use of organic fertiliser has led to the harvest drop in some areas during the last season.
The President instructed that the participation of all relevant persons in these programmes should be made compulsory.
President Rajapaksa said farmer’s income cannot decline adding that the confidence of the farming community in this regard should be strengthened.
President Rajapaksa also said the reluctance of farmers to switch to organic farming is a result of unsatisfactory experiences they received at various times.
The President noted the government has focused on providing necessary financial assistance to local fertiliser producers.
