The government has decided to permit the private sector to distribute urea fertilizer, Director General of the Department of Agriculture Dr. Thushara Wickramaarachchi said on Monday, as farmers across multiple districts continue to report distribution failures and substandard supplies for the Yala season.
Dr. Wickramaarachchi said the prevailing fertilizer issue would be resolved within the week and urged the public not to amplify what he called a false narrative of a shortage, noting that farmers are particularly sensitive to such reports. He said sufficient stocks are available and that a procurement programme has been prepared for the forthcoming Maha season.
The announcement comes despite repeated assurances by Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation K.D. Lal Kantha that all fertilizer required for the Yala season is in country and the distribution mechanism is operational.
Reports from multiple districts indicate that farmers who paid in April for fertilizer through Agrarian Service Centres have not received their allocations. Growers say the shortage is affecting crop health and increasing vulnerability to fungal disease.
The complaints are most severe in the Dehiattakandiya and Mahaweli āCā Zone areas, where farmers allege that mud fertilizer (Triple Super Phosphate) distributed through the Sandunpura Agrarian Service Centre at Rs. 13,250 a sack is of substandard quality. The sacks reportedly carry no product name, manufacturing date or expiry date, and farmers say the material cannot be used in paddy fields.
Triple Super Phosphate has been unavailable in adequate quantities despite advance payments, growers said.
The fertilizer governance issue has political weight beyond the Yala harvest: former Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody is scheduled for a CIABOC fertilizer-related trial on June 17, and the FAO recently distributed Rs. 300,000 fertilizer vouchers to cyclone-hit Anuradhapura farmers.
