Samples of allegedly substandard Muriate of Potash (MOP) fertilizer transported from a warehouse in Thambuttegama to the Rambewa Agrarian Service Centre have been sent to Colombo for urgent laboratory testing, the Director of the National Fertilizer Secretariat, Chandana Lokuhewage, said on Saturday.
Allegations were raised on Friday (15) that a stock of fertilizer originally allocated for the 2019 subsidy programme had been distributed recently to farmers in Pandukabayapura, within the Rambewa Agrarian Service Centre area in Mahakanadarawa, Anuradhapura. Farmers said the MOP supplied from the Thambuttegama warehouse was substandard and consisted of expired fertilizer imported in 2019.
Lokuhewage said samples had been obtained immediately through the Deputy Director of the Anuradhapura Fertilizer Secretariat and dispatched to Colombo for testing. “It would only be possible to determine whether the fertilizer is suitable for use after laboratory tests are completed,” he said. Initial inquiries with the relevant fertilizer company were also under way.
The complaint is qualitatively different from the broader fertilizer availability concerns that have shaped this Yala season. The Agriculture Minister has insisted there is no fertilizer shortage for the Yala cultivation cycle, and private-sector urea distribution arrangements have been activated to back up the state supply chain. The Thambuttegama allegations instead raise quality-control and shelf-life concerns about subsidy stock dating back six years, in a district that is among Sri Lanka’s biggest paddy-producing areas.
Source: Ada Derana.
