Sharjah24 - AFP: Sri Lanka lifted a ban on chemical fertiliser imports Tuesday after farmer protests, forecasts of severe food shortages and worries about the island's crucial tea exports.
Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa issued regulations replacing the ban with an import licensing scheme which goes into effect immediately.
Fertilisers were added earlier this year to a list of banned imports that includes vehicles and luxury goods in response to an acute shortage in Sri Lanka's foreign currency reserves.
But farmers staged protests after reporting failing vegetable crops as existing stocks of fertilisers and herbicides began to run out.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had said the ban would help Sri Lankan agriculture become "100-percent organic".
This was despite a report to the president by a group of experts who warned of "substantial crop losses which in turn would seriously affect the country's economy as well as result in food shortages".
For an optimal experience, please
