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US announces $40 million agricultural aid to Sri Lanka
None too soon, either: the monsoon is going to end in a few weeks and then farmers have to get pulses planted or they risk a second crop failure in a row.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/us-announces-40-million-agricultural-aid-to-sri-lanka/articleshow/94126818.cms
COLOMBO: The United States on Saturday announced $40 million in aid to buy fertilizer and other key agricultural inputs in time for the next cultivation season in crisis-hit Sri Lanka.
USAID Administrator Samantha Power, who is visiting Sri Lanka, made the announcement after she met farmer representatives in Ja-Ela outside the capital, Colombo. She said the money will be in addition to the $6 million announced earlier to assist low-income farmers.
Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis and acute shortages of essentials like food, fuel, and medicines because of a lack of foreign currency to pay for the imports. Agricultural yields dropped by more than half for the past two cultivation seasons because authorities had banned the imports of chemical fertilizers ostensibly to promote organic farming.
USAID Administrator Samantha Power, who is visiting Sri Lanka, made the announcement after she met farmer representatives in Ja-Ela outside the capital, Colombo. She said the money will be in addition to the $6 million announced earlier to assist low-income farmers.
Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis and acute shortages of essentials like food, fuel, and medicines because of a lack of foreign currency to pay for the imports. Agricultural yields dropped by more than half for the past two cultivation seasons because authorities had banned the imports of chemical fertilizers ostensibly to promote organic farming.