Govt. to provide fertilizer for tea cultivation

The Ministry of Agriculture and Plantation Industries has decided to provide the fertilizers required for tea cultivation in Sri Lanka through two state fertilizer companies, Colombo Commercial Fertilizer Company and Ceylon Fertilizer Company.

Until now, the Ceylon Tea Board had given loans to the tea growers to purchase the fertilizers required for tea cultivation from the private sector, and the tea growers had to pay a higher price for that. It was also reported that some tea growers do not use fertilizers and use the money for other purposes.

Therefore, Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industry Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera instructed the Ceylon Tea board to carry out this decision.

The annual fertilizer requirement for tea cultivation in Sri Lanka is 40,000 metric tons. The amount spent for that is about 6800 million rupees.

A discussion regarding this was held yesterday (02) afternoon at the Ministry of Plantation Industriesunder the patronage of Minister Mahinda Amaraweera and a group of officials including the Secretary of the Ministry Mr. Janaka Dharmakeerthi, Chairman of the Ceylon Tea Board Mr. Jayantha Edirisinghe participated in the discussion.

Ceylon Tea Board also pointed out that in order to get a proper yield from tea cultivation, fertilizers should be applied properly, but due to the fact that some tea growers do not apply fertilizers, the tea plantations do not get a proper yield.

The Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industry, Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera advised the Ceylon Tea Board to purchase the fertilizer required for tea cultivation by the two government-owned fertilizer companies.

The minister also pointed out that because the government-owned fertilizer companies provide fertilizer at a minimum price, it will further reduce the price of a 50 kg bundle of tea fertilizer, which is currently sold by the private sector for around 15,000 rupees.

Thus, after signing a memorandum of understanding with the Ceylon Tea Board and the two government-owned fertilizer companies, the arrangements for the supply of fertilizers for tea cultivation are to be implemented.

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