US announces $40 million agricultural aid to Sri Lanka

By KRISHAN FRANCIS
Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The United States has announced $40 million in aid to buy fertilizer and other key agricultural inputs in time for the next cultivation season in crisis-hit Sri Lanka. USAID Administrator Samantha Power, who is visiting Sri Lanka, made the announcement Saturday after she met farmer representatives outside the capital, Colombo. She said the money will be in addition to the $6 million announced earlier to assist low-income farmers. Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis and acute shortages of essentials like food, fuel and medicines because of a lack of foreign currency to pay for the imports. Agricultural yields dropped by more than half because authorities banned the imports of chemical fertilizers ostensibly to promote organic farming.