Posted on 05/09/2022 6:01:37 PM PDT by Hojczyk
What turned Sri Lanka’s economic situation from difficult to catastrophic was the decision by the Rajapaksa government to implement a nationwide ban on synthetic fertiliser. It was made not at the behest of neoliberal economists doing the bidding of global capital, but rather on the advice of environmentalists in the name of sustainable agriculture.
[T]hat strategy backfired in spectacular fashion. Domestic rice production fell by 14 per cent from 2021 to 2022, forcing the nation, long self-sufficient in rice production, to import hundreds of millions of dollars of rice and more than eroding all of the savings from ceasing fertiliser imports. On top of that, the ban decimated tea production, leading to a $425 million economic loss to the industry in its first six months of implementation. Tea, one of the nation’s primary crops, is a key source of its total export income, making a bad foreign exchange situation far worse. ***
Any competent agronomist could have predicted the result. And many did. Long-term use of synthetic fertilisers had helped Sri Lanka become not only food-secure but a major agricultural exporter. A survey of Sri Lanka’s farmers last July found that 75 per cent of them relied on synthetic fertilisers. For crops that are crucial sources of foreign currency and domestic food security — tea, rubber and rice — the dependence was even higher. ***
But the government ignored its own agricultural experts, instead convening representatives of the nation’s small organic sector to guide the nation’s agricultural policies. The result turned a bad situation into a disaster.
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
Environmentalists are mental and know nothing
How are we supposed to Destroy Nations, including our own, and depopulate the Earth to save it, if everyone has an abundance of food and energy??
climatologists also!
..... The same thing is about to happen here in what used to be called the “Land of the Free”
We must stop global warming. I just literally 4 wheeled from Reno to Sierraville CA through a blizzard. The track was completely covered in snow for 20 miles. Was freakin awesome but it should be covered in glaciers in mid may
During WWI they used to use Bat Gueno for fertilizer. Since the Germans were cut off they had to find a way to make their own. A German chemist who used to specialize in chemical warfare found a way to fix nitrogen from the air into ammonia . He ended up saving many more lives than his evil deeds did. Except, apparently, in Sri Lanka.
I’m starting to think that “sustainable” means “after killing most or all the humans”.
Eco nazis are a threat to humanity.
You’re right about that; there’s an entire evolutionary argument claiming humans are a disadvantageous mutation that never should have happened.
Given that starting point, you can figure out where it leads.
When you look at it that way, we ARE an invasive species. Like Kudzu. (Hmm - I’m guessing EVERY living thing is an invasive species somewhere. I wonder if there are any places that are concerned about their dwindling native Kudzu population?)
Kudzu only grows in open fields. Start up a forest and the kudzu will only grow to the edge. Robin Hood and his men lived in a forest. They were not affected by kudzu. We all just need to plant more trees.
and envi everything
Yeah, but that line of thinking eventually leads right on down the entire predator/prey food chain until there’s nothing you don’t hate but plants.
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