Categories: Headlines

Sri Lankan tea farmers want glyphosate herbicide ban overturned

ea farmers in Sri Lanka want their government to reauthorize the use of glyphosate for agriculture.

The country is one of only five in the world to ban the chemical, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s top-selling herbicide Roundup.

In the face of rising crop losses because of overgrowing weeds, the Planters’ Association of Ceylon is asking the government to either overturn the ban or provide an effective replacement for glyphosate.

“Unfortunately, the situation is becoming extremely dire for the tea sector,” association chairman Roshan Rajadurai said in a news release.

According to Rajadurai, crop loss in the first 18 months after the ban totaled to some $100 million.

Last month, Sri Lankan police seized 5,400 packets of illicit glyphosate. Investigators say the contraband is smuggled into the country on boats from India, where it is sold at four to five times the original cost.

“Time and again we have called on the government to at least give us an alternative to glyphosate, and unfortunately there has been no response whatsoever,” Rajadurai said.

Without an effective weed killer, Rajadurai said additional labor costs for manual weeding, as well as lost production, are giving an advantage to Sri Lanka’s main competitors in the tea sector, Kenya and India.

AddThis Website Tools
Lankanewspapers

Recent Posts

LNP – Education Minister calls for urgent measures to end ragging and violence in universities

LNP – Education Minister calls for urgent measures to end ragging and violence in universities

Education Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya has called for the formulation of comprehensive recommendations and measures…

3 hours ago
LNP – Human-Elephant Conflict claims over 250 lives in six months

LNP – Human-Elephant Conflict claims over 250 lives in six months

The ongoing human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka has claimed the lives of 261 individuals both…

3 hours ago
LNP – Narcotics peddled at Israelis-run business centres in East

LNP – Narcotics peddled at Israelis-run business centres in East

Some Israelis, who are here as tourists, are involved in peddling various types of narcotics…

3 hours ago

LNP – Indictments served on Yoshitha Rajapaksa and his grandmother

Indictments have been served before the Colombo High Court on Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the son of…

21 hours ago

LNP – Trump says he’ll ‘look’ at deporting Musk as feud reignites

President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday his administration will “have to take a look” at…

1 day ago

LNP – Haj delegation hails Saudi Arabia’s outstanding arrangements for 3,500 Sri Lankans

Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Omar Lebbe Ameer Ajwad on…

1 day ago