Massive fertiliser racket busted

by L. S. A. Wedaarachchi

[email protected]

A massive racket by some provincial agricultural officers, fertiliser traders and farmers has been revealed.

A spokesman for the Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services Ministry said that the fertiliser provided to paddy farmers at a subsidised price of Rs. 350 per ton had not been made good use of and some farmers fraudulently sold the fertiliser to traders.

The prices of the TSP, MOP and Uriya fertiliser in the market range from Rs. 5,500 to Rs. 2,500 per ton. According to the spokesman some companies which are not importing fertiliser are marketing fertiliser in a big way in the agricultural districts.

The Agriculture Ministry provided paddy fertiliser worth Rs. 11,000 million to the farmers at a subsidised price of Rs. 350 for farmers expecting high yields of paddy.

The Investigation Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services has invited more information on fraudulent deals of fertiliser from the farmers and farmer welfare organisations.