A Brief Timeline Of Sri Lanka's Descent Into Economic Crisis

Sri Lanka is facing a historic economic crisis. Food and fuel shortage is severe, and both the commodities have seen an exponential rise in their prices.

As you read this, Sri Lanka is standing at the verge of bankruptcy.

Given below, is a brief summary of how things went so wrong in the island nation.

April-May 2021

In April last year, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced that only organic farming would be allowed in Sri Lanka, aiming to become the first in the world to have 100 percent organic farming.

In May, President Rajapaksa imposed a total ban on agrochemicals-based fertilisers. The president said that it was done to address the country's chronic health problems like kidney disorders and cancer. He cited ecological destruction wrought by agrochemicals.

Some political observers also linked the ban decision to a campaign by Buddhist monk, Athuraliye Rathana which claimed that kidney and other non-communicable diseases were caused by agro-chemicals.

The president also said that the move would help save around $200 million incurred on importing agrochemicals. Sri Lanka’s chemical fertiliser import in 2020 was 1.26 million tonne

Agriculture experts had strongly criticised the move as “ill-advised” and “unscientific”. The farming community expressed fears that such drastic policy shift could result in steep drop in yield. Paddy farmers anticipated a 25 per cent production slump, while growers of tea, which is a key foreign exchange earner for Sri Lanka, feared a 40 - 60 per cent fall in output.

October 2021

In October, the Sri Lankan government dismissed the country’s top agricultural scientist, Professor Buddhi Marambe, for publicly warning that the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government's ban on agrochemicals will lead to shortfalls in food output and exacerbate the economic crisis in the pandemic-hit Island.

By this time, Sri Lanka was also reeling under a pandemic-induced economic crisis, a rising foreign debt, depleted foreign exchange reserves and a devaluing currency. A severe food shortage made things worse.

The ban on chemical fertilisers and pesticides also triggered hoarding by traders and companies, leading to black-marketing.

The Rajapaksa government had assured that there were ample fertiliser stocks to be distributed till September and that farmers would receive organic fertiliser by the beginning of the Maha season. There are two cultivation seasons in Sri Lanka — Yala (April-May to August-September) and Maha (September-October to February-March). However assurances were not fulfilled. Famers took to the streets demanding the government to give them fertiliser as promised.

November 2021

As farmers protests grew and scientists warned of a looming disaster, the government signalled willingness to lift a part of the fertiliser ban.

However, by the time the ban was lifted, 'the agriculture industry had lost nearly 50 per cent of its production capacity', according to this report.

The government planned to import a consignment of organic fertiliser from China but the process had to be halted when standards institutions detected harmful pathogens in these samples.