Sri Lanka’s ‘organic only’ policy | Sowing the seeds of a disaster

The rash policy shift to ‘organic only’ agriculture in May could severely impact Sri Lanka’s food security, according to experts. With farmers angry, it could also have a considerable political cost for the ruling Rajapaksas, reports Meera Srinivasan

From the time he began voting, Kurunegala farmer B.M.H. Jayatilleka has not backed any party other than the at the polls. By extension, his vote in recent elections went to the where they made their political careers.

In the presidential poll of 2019, Jayatilleka voted for Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In the 2020 general elections, he campaigned hard for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa who contested from Kurunegala district, located in Sri Lanka’s North Western Province and home to a large population of farmers and military families. polled a record 5,27,364 preferential votes in that election, reflecting his enduring electoral appeal a decade after the armed forces under his leadership defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), .