A full audit of the Urea distribution program will be initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture. The audit has been ordered by Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera to identify the shortcomings of the fertilizer distribution
Speaking exclusively to News Cutter, a close aide to Minister Amaraweera revealed the Ministry has received reports of discrepancies during the Urea distribution.
“We have reports about Urea allocated for paddy farming used to grow other crops such as Coconut and Bananas”
W.M.D Wanninayake
He further said that some farmers have been selling the Urea fertilizer provided for them at a subsidized price.
“A 50 Kg packet of Urea fertilizer was given at Rs. 10,000 to paddy farmers”, he added.
According to Wanninayake, Sri Lanka will receive 65,000 Metric Tons of Urea fertilizer from India under the Indian concessionary loan scheme of which 44,000 MT have been already received.
Furthermore, he said that 98 per cent of the Urea consignment has been distributed among farmers who aim to grow their crops for the upcoming Maha season.
“Jaffna has a requirement of 1500MT of which 200MT of Urea were distributed recently”
Wanninayake said that Jaffna did not receive urea during the Yala season because they were already engaged in growing their crops when the shipment arrived in Colombo.