Agri Minister clarifies conditions to compensate farmers for crop damage

Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage today issued a clarification with regard to the government’s plans to compensate the country’s farmers for the crop damage. 

Responding to questions from journalists regarding the matter, he said that compensation will only paid after observing and making sure that the farmers have used the organic fertilizer provided by the government.

He said that the government initially provided farmers with solid organic fertilizer, then they were provided liquid biofertilizer, potassium chloride and currently the nano nitrogen is being distributed.

The Agriculture Minister reiterated that compensation will be provided only to the farmers who have used all four types of fertilizer. 

“We will only give compensation if the farmer has incurred a drop in production after using all four fertilizers,” he said, adding, “a government can’t give compensation if farmer is just waiting with his mouth open without using any of these.”

Replying to a question regarding the President’s recent comments on the lack of support from other institutions for the green agriculture project, the minister said that even he agrees that the support from the officials of his ministry was not sufficient.

He said that it is regrettable that everyone including the media did not talk about the ‘good side’ of the green agriculture programme and that neither the Health Ministry, Environment Ministry nor the government is talking about the good that will come from this. 

“Why are we not talking about the good? Why are none of us talking about the people of the country losing their kidney, about the cancers caused in the country, about people being fed poison?”

He said that everyone stood for the chemical fertilizer companies over the past 07 months and no one spoke anything about the ‘good side’ of this pogramme.