Sri Lanka’s Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal to temporarily lift the ban on Glyphosate for tea and rubber sectors for a period of 36 months. 

Lat week the Minister of Plantation Industries Navin Dissanayake said that the  ban which was imposed on the herbicide Glyphosate has been lifted for tea and rubber sectors.

“As some of the tea producers have used the weedicide MCPA instead of Glyphosate, Japan has detected levels that are not inconformity with their market, with their accepted levels. And they have warned us they will take action in terms of a ban if this continues,” the minister had said.  

The Cabinet had appointed an experts’ committee to decide on the usage of the banned agrochemical, after tea and rubber plantation sectors had complained over the negative effects of the ban. 

Based on the recommendations of that committee, a proposal was presented by President Maithripala Sirisena to allow the use of Glyphosate, under strict guidelines, only for tea and rubber crops, and with a suitable monitoring mechanism in place to prevent misuse and leakage to water sources.

The President in 2015 banned the import of glyphosate as some studies have linked the use of the agrochemical to the Chronic Kidney Disease affecting the Sri Lankan farmers.

The import and use of Glyphosate was banned under the Import and Export (Control) Act, No. 01 of 1969.

The use of Glyphosate is believed to be the main cause for the chronic kidney disease (CKD) that is widespread in the North Central Province in the country.