Govt selling Urea at Rs. 6,500 per 50 kg pack – Farmers

The government through Agrarian Services Centres is selling a 50 kg pack of Urea fertilizer at Rs.6,500, National Organizer of the All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation Namal Karunaratne said.

He said it is unacceptable and illegal to sell this fertilizer at such a high price as the government subsidized the price of a 50 kg pack of Urea is Rs.1, 500. He said the government authorities raided the private sector shops that were selling the same product between Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 5,000.

Karunaratne was speaking to the media at Kurunegala on Saturday. Showing the invoice of the purchase of Urea fertilizer at Rs.6,500 by a farmer, who is also a journalist from Galenbindunuwewa, Karunaratne also said this black market deal is taking place at Ampara, Anuradhapura and Monaragala districts.

According to Karunaratne, the stock being sold at the Agrarian Services Centres are not new and have been imported to the country under previous low prices. Therefore, selling them at such a high price is very unfair. The government should prevent committing such unfair things, he added.

Karunaratne also said that despite the chemical fertilizer ban in effect, mega scale companies and also some of the government-owned farms are using chemical fertilizer for their cultivations in order to obtain more harvest. But, the farmers at grass-root level are suffering due to the shortage of required fertilizer.