Sri Lanka's organic drive kills iconic tea industry

By Agence France-Presse

Sep 02, 2021 12:45 am

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's drive to become the world's first 100-percent organic food producer threatens its prized tea industry and has triggered fears of a wider crop disaster that could deal a further blow to the beleaguered economy.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa banned chemical fertilizers this year to set off his organic race but tea plantation owners are predicting crops could fail as soon as October with cinnamon, pepper and staples, such as rice, also facing trouble.

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