Glyphosate ban lifted finally

The Government has lifted the ban on the weedicide glyphosate nearly three years after it was imposed by President Maithripala Sirisena.

The Registrar of Pesticides “in the interest of the public and on the advice of the Pesticides Technical and Advisory Committee through an Extraordinary Gazette dated 11 July 2018 has rescinded an order issued earlier canceling the license for the pesticide.

An Extraordinary Gazette dated 23 October 2018 issued by the Registrar of Pesticides ordered to cancel every license issued in respect of pesticides containing the active ingredient glyphosate. After the good governance government came to power in 2015, President Maithripala Sirisena totally banned the use of glyphosate.

In the face of devastating crop losses due to the overgrowing weeds, especially in tea plantations, the Planters Association of Ceylon (PA) pleaded with the Government to immediately provide a rational, and effective solution to the management of chemical weeding in the estate sector in a commercially viable manner. 

The economic losses to the country due to the ban have been estimated to be about 15 to 20 billion rupees annually.

The Cabinet of Ministers in May approved lifting of the ban on the glyphosate weedicide only for tea and rubber industries for a period of 36 months.