President Gotabaya Rajapaksa banned chemical fertilisers this year to set off his organic race but tea plantation owners are predicting crops could fail as soon as October, with cinnamon, pepper and staples such as rice also facing trouble.
Sri Lanka is in the grip of a pandemic-induced economic crisis, with gross domestic product contracting more than three percent last year, and the government's hopes of a return to growth have been hit by a new coronavirus wave. Gunaratne, whose Virgin White tea sells for $2,000 a kilo, was removed last month from Rajapaksa's Task Force for a Green Socio-Economy after disagreeing with the president.He says the country's Ceylon tea has some of the lowest chemical content of any tea and poses no threat.
He told AFP his plantation maintained an organic section for tourism, but it was not viable. Organic tea costs 10 times more to produce and the market is limited, Gurunada added. "If we go completely organic, we will lose 50 percent of the crop, we are not going to get 50 percent higher prices," Gunaratne said.
Plantations minister Ramesh Pathirana said the government hoped to provide organic compost in place of chemical fertilisers.
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