Desperate 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Maybe the country could have tolerated the rule of the Rajapaksha family for many more years. But all the issues came to a head when a foolish law wrecked the economy.

Farms were forced to transition to organic immediately, and synthetic fertilizer was banned. Organic fertilizer, such as manure, couldn't even begin to take up the slack. Five to seven times more than the existing amount would have been required.

Crops were devastated. No longer self-sufficient in rice, they had to import it . . and the retail cost of rice went up 50%. Their biggest export, tea, was a farm product too, so that was another blow to their economy.

To compensate farmers for their catastrophic losses, the government started throwing money at them - but it was too little and too late.

"Human costs have been even greater. Prior to the pandemic’s outbreak, the country had proudly achieved upper-middle-income status. Today, half a million people have sunk back into poverty."

from Foreign Policy