{"id":223039,"date":"2021-10-08T16:53:49","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T11:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=223039"},"modified":"2021-10-13T22:57:34","modified_gmt":"2021-10-13T17:27:34","slug":"the-fertilizer-debate-nearing-conclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-fertilizer-debate-nearing-conclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fertilizer Debate Nearing Conclusion?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Upatissa Pethiyagoda<\/a> –<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Upatissa Pethiyagoda<\/p><\/div>\n

To me, the ongoing discourse, stimulated by a reckless decision to ban the import of all non-organic agro-chemicals with \u201cimmediate effect\u201d could be considered healthy, Unfortunately, the \u201cVasa visa nethi krushikarma\u201d folks, on whose advice the President perhaps made this dramatic move, have chosen to remain silent. The issue has now less to do with science and more with political tones.<\/p>\n

It is not fair to expect the President to be knowledgeable about every matter that seems to require his stamp of authority, for anything to happen. Rather, also by an unfortunate statement, where he declared that the word of the President is sufficient authority to act, being superior to any \u201ccircular\u201d. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our President reportedly declared at the UN General Assembly in New York, that Sri Lanka aims to be the First Country to go \u201cTotally organic\u201d. Since it is likely that the President\u2019s address would have been composed or at least \u201cvetted\u201d before its delivery It is clear that The President should review the competence of those who accompanied him to New York, or are cozying around him here.<\/p>\n

It would also be unwise to seek the advice of prelates in Parliament, Trade Unions, or even Mahanayaka positions, for advice on technical matters, as much as to be advised by agricultural chemists, Pediatricians, or \u201cProfessors\u201d of doubted provenance, on spiritual matters. Is the 20th<\/sup> Amendment with heavy responsibilities and authoritarian features bestowed on Presidents when in office, the root cause? The whole fertilizer story is now a matter of hurt egos or of political sensitivity, than a purely technical one.<\/p>\n

I was stunned the other day to hear our Minister of Agriculture declaring (in a kind of \u2018repair job\u2019) that the intention of the recent exceptions to the ban, was not a reversal of the \u201cBan situation,\u201c but only a concession, in a special case. It was to apply, he said \u201c only to import of \u201cLiquid Nitrogen\u201d, because it was cheaper than other forms of \u201cfertilizer nitrogen\u201d. In conventional chemistry, nitrogen gas becomes liquid at about minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit. Absolute zero is some minus 293 degrees Fahrenheit and is the lowest Temperature achievable! It is impossible to imagine a paddy farmer in Kahatagasdigiliya or Horowupotana, having facilities to handle \u201cliquid nitrogen\u201c. To be charitable the Minister perhaps had in mind, preparations like \u201cHyponex\u201dor \u201cMaxicrop\u201d, While being appalled by this degree of understanding in one who is supposed to help in managing our affairs as implied in the word \u201cDeshapalanaya\u201d (meaning roughly as \u201cManaging the nation\u201d), can be entrusted with taking decisions affecting our futures and of those yet to be born. It will be perilous that those so seriously \u201cintellectually challenged\u201d are custodians of our very existence and of those yet to be born!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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