This should be a warning to the UN, the EU and the Dutch government but for their own reasons I don' think they care.
From the Financial Times, December 27
South Asian island nation relies on international aid to stave off starvation
For centuries, Sri Lanka has been renowned for its vast and varied produce, its fertile soil fostering everything from cinnamon and black pepper to fruits and fragrant teas.
But over the past 18 months, the country has become a cautionary tale for global agriculture. Vital inputs such as fuel and fertilisers are in short supply, with prices soaring. Yields from rice and other staples have halved in many areas and the once largely self-sufficient Indian Ocean island now depends on international aid to combat a hunger crisis.
In April 2021, then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced an abrupt ban on the import of chemical fertilisers to force the country of 22mn to embrace organic farming. The prohibition lasted only about six months, but analysts said the ill-fated policy not only stoked an economic crisis, it would leave Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector hobbled for years.
“It really brought everything to a halt,” said Ahilan Kadirgamar, a sociologist at the University of Jaffna who works with rural co-operatives. “Farmers have lost a lot of confidence in the government.”
Sri Lanka this year became the first Asia-Pacific country to default on its international debt in more than two decades after running out of foreign reserves, prompting a foreign exchange crisis that led to mass protests, crippling shortages of medicine and other essentials and a dramatic drop in living standards across the island.
Colombo is engaged in debt-restructuring negotiations with creditors, including China, India and commercial bondholders as it tries to finalise a $2.9bn IMF bailout.
Although the crisis had many causes, from excessive borrowing for underused infrastructure projects to loss of tourism during the Covid-19 pandemic, experts said the fallout from the fertiliser ban was an important driver....
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