Subsidized fertilizer denied to Batticaloa farmers
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2010, 12:59 GMT]
Batticaloa district farming societies have complained that fertilizer allocated under the subsidy scheme through more than fourteen Agrarian Services Centers (AGC) has not been distributed to paddy cultivators even after the farmers have paid money in advance. No other AGC has taken money in advance for the distribution of fertilizer under subsidy scheme says farmers’ societies.
Sri Lanka' Economic Development Minister recently addressing the Batticaloa district development committee stressed that the shortage of rice could be overcome if all cultivatable lands in the district were brought under cultivation. But the Minister did not mention his department's failure to implement the fertilizer subsidy scheme for farmers. Resettlement Deputy Minister and Eastern Provincial Chief Minister also promised at DDC meetings and other discussions with representatives of the civil groups that they would take action to develop the paddy cultivation. However, the problems faced by farmers are continuing. Farming societies say, Colombo has been neglecting farmers in NorthEast, before and after the war, while providing all necessary facilities to farmers of other districts dominated by the Sinhalese. More than ten thousand acres of paddy lands had been deprived of irrigation facility due to irregularities prevailing in the Irrigation Schemes in the Batticaloa district, according to the Batticaloa Deputy Commissioner of Agrarians Services Mr. R.Rushanthan. Currently the paddy cultivation in the district faces heavy damage due to continuous rain.
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