Commentary
You may remember the headlines: in 2021, Sri Lanka’s government imposed a total ban on agrochemicals. The restrictions affected both chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
The government changed course in late 2021, but the damage had already been done.
Yields fell dramatically, fueling anger in the streets. By mid-2022, the country was convulsed by explosive protests. In a matter of months, the prime minister and president both resigned.
Protesters wait to enter into Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office during a protest demanding for his resignation, after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled, amid the country’s economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 13, 2022. (Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)
A nation that once grew enough rice to feed itself was reduced to begging for handouts from India and China. That outcome is as devastating as it was predictable….