There is a food crisis in Sri Lanka. Before the corona pandemic, around 10 per cent of the 22 million population were battling food security issues and economic restrictions and a complete ban on the use of chemical fertilisers have worsened the situation. This information has been received from the data released by the country’s Central Statistical Agency on Monday.
The United Nations estimates that about one-third of the country’s population needs food aid. They lack essential food items and nutrients. According to the Department of Census and Statistics, by the end of the year 2019, 9.1 percent of the population of Sri Lanka lacked essential food items. Out of this, 2,00,000 people are on the verge of starvation. According to the data, food insecurity at the household level has increased to 9.45 percent. It states that one in every 10 households suffers from a lack of essential foods and nutrients.
The department said that however, the situation has worsened in 2020 due to various restrictions imposed for the prevention of COVID-19. This affected the livelihood of the people and made them fall in the trap of poverty. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had completely banned the use of chemical fertilizers in April last year. This has adversely affected the production of rice and other essential food items in the country.
Before the fertilizer ban, Sri Lanka was self-sufficient in rice production. The situation has worsened due to the shortage of foreign exchange reserves in the country. The UN regional coordinator in Sri Lanka Hana Singar Hamdy said about 4.9 million people currently need food security. This is about 25 percent of the country’s population.