The organic farming revolution that may kill Sri Lanka’s tea industry and threatens its rice, pepper and cinnamon crops, according to growers
- Aiming to be the world’s first 100 per cent organic food producer, Sri Lanka has banned chemical fertilisers. That could cause a crop disaster, critics say
- President Gotabaya Rajapaksa says the ban will stop people being poisoned and improve nutrition and food security. Experts say the opposite is likely
Sri Lanka’s drive to become the world’s first 100 per cent organic food producer threatens its prized tea industry and has triggered fears of a wider crop disaster that could deal a further blow to the beleaguered economy.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa banned chemical fertilisers this year to set off his organic race but tea plantation owners are predicting crops could fail as soon as October, with cinnamon, pepper and staples such as rice also facing trouble.
Master tea maker Herman Gunaratne, one of 46 experts picked by Rajapaksa to guide the organic revolution, fears the worst.
“The ban has drawn the tea industry into complete disarray,” Gunaratne said at his plantation in Ahangama, in rolling hills 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Colombo. “The consequences for the country are unimaginable.”
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Sri Lanka’s ‘organic revolution’ threatens country’s prized tea industry
The 76-year-old, who grows one of the world’s most expensive teas, fears that Sri Lanka’s average annual crop of 300,000 tonnes will be slashed by half unless the government changes course.