President Ranil Wickremesinghe has lifted a ban on glyphosate, giving in to a long-standing request of the country’s tea industry.
In a Gazette Notification issued by Wickremesinghe, the import ban on glyphosate has been lifted with effect from Friday (05).
Accordingly, the glyphosate has been shifted to a list of goods requiring permits.
Former President Maithripala Sirisena originally banned glyphosate under his administration, when Wickremesinghe was the Prime Minister.
Sri Lanka’s tea industry in particular has been lobbying to allow glyphosate use as it is one of the internationally accepted weed killers and alternatives are not permitted under food regulation in some of the export destinations.
Sri Lanka lifted the ban in November 2021 but it was re-imposed again.
