Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure, Samantha Vidyarathna, announced plans to provide fertilizer subsidies to coconut plantation owners to address the ongoing coconut shortage in Sri Lanka.
Speaking on the issue, the Minister highlighted that out of the 55,000 metric tons of fertilizer recently imported, 27,500 metric tons will be allocated for coconut cultivation.
“Our ministry’s coconut plantations, covering tens of thousands of acres, have not received fertilizer for five years, leading to reduced yields. The public also couldn’t apply fertilizer. Following the recent fertilizer shipment, we decided in a Cabinet discussion to allocate half of it for coconut cultivation,” Minister Vidyarathna explained.
He expressed optimism that the initiative would help resolve the coconut shortage by next year, ensuring better harvests and meeting public demand.
