WHEN the Sri Lankan economy collapsed with a sigh recently, prominently sticking out of the debris was a failed attempt to take the island nation into full-scale organic agricultural production.
The Rajapaksa government had virtually overnight ordered a switch to organic agriculture to save foreign exchange on the import of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
But going organic, instead of being the solution, became a bigger problem with food crops failing and the famed Sri Lankan tea industry withering.
Now Sri Lanka has turned to India for food aid, but it would have done well to have earlier sought advice. . .
