According to a statement from the US Embassy, the US officially handed over 9,300 MT of urea fertilizer to the Ministry of Agriculture for distribution to more than 193,000 smallholder paddy farmers in the districts of Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Mannar, Vavuniya, Anuradhapura, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, and Monaragala.
The fertilizer is the first cargo of fertilizer help supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with other shipments of fertilizer aid anticipated in the upcoming months that will benefit close to one million farmers around the nation.
A chunk of the $46 million in funding from the US through USAID, which was granted to buy crucial fertilizer to boost paddy output and prevent a food catastrophe, arrived today. Additionally, smallholder farmers who have suffered as a result of low yields over the previous two agricultural seasons as well as the current economic crisis will receive cash support through this investment. In order to make sure that aid reaches its intended recipients and benefits the disadvantaged farming households, USAID and its partners have put in place systems to monitor and assess their work.
Anjali Kaur, USAID’s Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia, Julie Chung, the United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mahinda Amaraweera, the FAO Representative for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Mr. Vimlendra Sharan, and USAID Mission Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Gabriel Grau, all attended today’s handover ceremony.
