He said that the government has proposed to prepare an action plan to extend the fertilizer subsidy to farmers in direct cash payments in a bid to change from chemical agriculture to sustainable organic agriculture and is looking forward to include the fertilizer subsidy in the upcoming budget for the next fiscal year as well. The Thero further said that the country is overly dependent on chemical agriculture and as a result we are already faced with many environmental and health issues.

The Thera said that President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Agriculture Minister Duminda Dissanayaka and Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayaka have spoken in favour of the proposed action.

“We are thankful to the President and the Prime Minister for banning the use of glyphosate. Nobody cared to prevent the use of any harmful chemical fertilizer before the advent of the good government,” he said.