Tourism, tea export, apparel, textile, rice production and other agricultural products are major sectors of Sri Lankan economy.
The Beginning
In the year 2019, during election campaigns, Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised to shift from conventional to organic farming within 10 years.
The Beginning
Last year in April, Sri Lankan government imposed nationwide banon import & use of synthetic fertilizers & pesticides.
Burden
Without any proper planning and execution, around 2 million farmers living in the country were left with no choice rather than practicing organic farming.
Impact
Rice, tea, rubber, and coconut production suddenly dropped by around 20 to 30% leading to increase in prices.
Tea
Tea production dropped by 18% from 2021 to 2022 due to sudden ban on synthetic fertilizers & pesticides. It lead to economic losses of around $425 million.
Rice
Rice production dropped by around 20%. Earlier Sri Lanka was self sufficient in rice production but due to sudden drop it had to import $450 million worth of rice.
But!
Sri Lanka's economic crisis was not only due to sudden ban on synthetic fertilizers & pesticides, there were other reasons too.
COVID-19
Tourism sector is the third largest foreign income generator for Sri Lanka. Due to Covid-19 outbreak, tourist arrivals from all the top markets dropped from 84% to 100% by 2021.
Other Factors
Large tax cuts affecting government revenue, poor investment strategy, debt trap, increasein fuel prices due to Russo-Ukranian war are several other factors responsible for the crisis.
What We Think?
To bring any change, first there should be trials on small scale, if the model proves out to be successful then only it should be implemented on a large scale.