IAF Delivers 100 Tonne Nano Nitrogen Fertiliser To Sri Lanka After Colombo Found Harmful Microbes In Chinese Fertilisers

After Sri Lanka's request, India has transported around 100,000 kg of nano nitrogen fertilisers to the island nation.

Two IAF transport aircraft were used for transporting the fertiliser to Sri Lanka, according to an official statement of the Indian Embassy in Colombo.

"The two IAF C-17 Globemaster aircraft arrived at Bandaranaike International Airport with 100,000 Kg of Nano Nitrogen. The deployment was essentially to support the Government of Sri Lanka's initiative towards Organic farming and to expedite availability of Nano Nitrogen Fertiliser to the Sri Lankan farmers," the Indian Embassy said.

According to a Economic Times report, this is the second time that India has come to the rescue of Sri Lanka in the recent past on fertiliser's supply after Colombo found the Chinese organic fertiliser received from China contaminated.

India had sent the previous shipment of fertiliser to Sri Lanka in October.

Sri Lanka had earlier cancelled the plans to import 99,000 metric tonnes of organic fertiliser at a cost of $63 million from China's Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co Ltd after detecting harmful bacteria.

Sri Lanka's Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage had said in Parliament that laboratory tests conducted on the organic fertiliser samples sent from India have confirmed that they were suitable for the use in Sri Lanka.

"Two Indian Air Force heavy lift aircraft arrived in early morning hours of November 4 with a consignment of nano nitrogen fertiliser on the request of the Government of Sri Lanka," the Indian High Commission statement said.

"The Government of India has continued to support Sri Lanka in times of critical requirement as part of its 'Neighbourhood First' policy and has repeatedly demonstrated its capacity and role as the 'First Responder' in the region," the statement added.

According to the ET report, Sri Lanka has a big demand of nano fertiliser and Beijing's image has taken a beating among the farming community, according to Colombo-based experts on Lankan agriculture.

Colombo rejected a consignment of Chinese fertiliser saying it was contaminated and it did not pass quality standards, diplomatic sources were quoted in the report as saying.

China reacted by banning a Lankan bank and made the announcement through social media while mounting enormous pressure on the Lankan government to accept the shipment.