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Government Has Not Done Its Homework On The Fertilizer, Pesticide & Weedicide Ban
Prof. Rohan Samarajiva
The Cabinet Paper banning fertilizer, pesticide, and weedicide imports with immediate effect that was rubber-stamped last week without discussion constitutes a sea change in Sri Lanka’s agriculture policy. Its implications for consumers, for the livelihoods of farmers, and for those who have invested in agriculture and related sectors are vast. It is simply too important a decision to be taken by the President alone.
Despite the 20
th Amendment, it is wrong to marginalize Parliament and to ignore state agencies with expertise. Because agriculture is a devolved subject, officials in the Provincial Councils should be consulted even in the absence of elected Council members. Given the expropriatory effects on the private property of those whose investments are affected, the authority of the Courts as the guardians of fundamental rights and as the upholders of equity is likely
(Prof. Sasanka Perera’s recent speech as guest speaker to the National Academy of Sciences)
In present times, there is an intriguing, but at times seemingly dangerous entanglement between science, belief and state policy or government action. This kind of phenomena range from the government’s sudden ban of Glyphosate in 2015; the state sponsorship of a conference on the air power of the mythical king Ravana to the layers of stories surrounding the advent of what is now popularly known as the Dammika Peniya. These are merely three well-known phenomena from a whole series of such phenomena in the country with varying impacts on social life, politics and commerce. As a collective of occurrences with their own structure of associated events, these phenomena have not been reckoned with seriously. We have not carefully reflected upon them and asked ourselves why they are more evident now, and what their broader consequences and reasons for manifestation might be. As a result, we do no