Sri Lanka is facing an unprecedented agricultural and economic crisis over the past seven decades. With the Rajapaksa family and dictatorship, the country was mired in debt. Without preparing the farmers unilaterally implementing organic farming across the country is a curse. Crops were damaged. Food shortages intensified as yields fell by less than a third. People have no food to eat. There is no money at all. Food prices are skyrocketing, petroleum products prices are skyrocketing. Unable to cope with the financial difficulties, Sri Lankan Tamils began to migrate to India. Last year, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa unilaterally decided to adopt 100 percent organic farming without educating farmers on how to do organic farming. Imports of key chemical fertilizers were banned. The decision to become the credit of the first and only country in the world to have one hundred percent organic farming was initially deceived.
Yields have halved since September due to the unavailability of fertilizers for rice, tomato, carrot, beans, and other vegetable crops. After that, they fell to less than a third. With this, the peasants have turned away. There was a shortage of food. Prices of rice, vegetables, and essentials are skyrocketing. In December, the government announced that it was finally withdrawing its 100 percent organic farming target. In addition to the food crisis domestically, the impact of rising international crude oil prices due to the Russia-Ukraine war has been severe on the Sri Lankan economy. Petrol and gas prices have skyrocketed. Jobs are gone. No new employment opportunities. Protests are raging across the country.
People in front of government offices raised concerns. Attempts to infiltrate the presidency at once mirror the situation there. The situation was such that the army had to be deployed at petrol bunks. The economic and agricultural policies of the ruling Rajapaksa family in Sri Lanka have completely failed. The policies pursued by Anna Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister, his younger brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as President, and another younger brother Basil Rajapaksa as Finance Minister have devastated the country. Gotabhaya won a solid victory in the 2019 presidential election. His party did worse than expected from opinion polls, which saw them gaining about a third of the seats in the 2020 parliamentary elections. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has taken over as Prime Minister. The measures taken to enforce the unfulfilled promises made during the elections have shaken the Sri Lankan economy with false economic policies.
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