BBM Sir, As Interim Secretary Of Agriculture, You Could Learn From Abroad... President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Of Sri Lanka Miscalculated On His National Policy Of Imposing 100% Organic Agriculture And 0% Chemical Agriculture – Today, Sri Lanka Is A Total Disaster!
Ted Nordhaus &
Saloni Shah say, “In Sri Lanka, Organic Farming Went Catastrophically
Wrong” (05 March 2022, Foreign Policy, foreignpolicy.com):
Faced with a deepening
economic and humanitarian crisis, Sri Lanka called off an ill-conceived
national experiment in organic agriculture this winter. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised in his 2019
election campaign to transition the country’s farmers to organic agriculture…
Last April, Rajapaksa’s government made good on that promise, imposing a
nationwide ban on the importation and use of synthetic fertilizers and
pesticides and ordering the country’s 2 million farmers to go organic.
April
2021, Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa declared the national policy of 0%
chemical agriculture (CA) and 100% organic agriculture (OA). 1 year later, there
is a national catastrophe!
So,
what is the lesson from Sri Lanka?
Sudden Policy = Sudden Death!
Dhinesh Kallungal
says, “Lessons From Sri Lanka On Shift To Organic Farming” (The Hindu,thehindu.com):
“… The ill-advised policy of switching to [100%] organic farming, shunning
chemical fertilizers, has led to a steep fall in agricultural production and
export earnings from tea in Sri Lanka.”
It’s
not organic farming – it’s national policy declared without study!
(Milton Friedman quote from Pinterest, pinterest.ph)
Omair Ahmad says,
“Sri Lanka’s Problems Are Anything But Organic” (22 April 2022, Science: The Wire, science.thewire.in):
The collapse of Sri
Lanka’s economy had little to do with organic farming per se, and much more to
do with the disastrous handling of its economy. … The banning of inorganic fertilizers,
the reasons… and the way it was done [compose] a cautionary tale of how not to
embark on a green transition.
So,
BBM Sir, the Sri Lanka tragedy is a lesson from the very top! It is lack of
study – be careful to declare any national policy in agriculture just like
that!
Notwithstanding the bad news, while I respect current
Secretary of Agriculture William Dar’s
“Balanced Fertilization” policy for Philippine farms, I am 0% CA and 100% OA – because
organic agriculture is designed to solve at least 3 problems nationally:
1.
Food crisis
2.
Farmer poverty
3.
Climate change
(1)
Food
crisis – You can grow any food crop using any OA method in any field, including
and especially bad soils, so there should be enough
food for everyone.
(2)
Farmer
poverty – Costs of OA are very much lower than CA, so returns are very
much higher. Also, foods grown with OA are more healthy, and attract more
buyers. Healthier foods, healthier returns.
(3)
Climate
change – You will help solve climate change with OA because no
greenhouse gases are produced.
BBM
Sir! With organic agriculture adopted with cautionary policy nationally, the
Philippines will soon be The World Model on the Best Practices in Agriculture!@517
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