The Impact of Fertilizer Subsidy on Average Paddy Yield in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Concerning Paddy cultivation, it is one of the major sectors of livelihood in Sri Lanka, employing more than 1.8 million people. The Fertilizer subsidy scheme was initiated in 1962 with the invention of High Yielding Varieties parallel to the Green Revolution. There were three main components given under the subsidy program Urea, Triple Super Phosphate (TSP), and Potassium Chloride (MOP). As in other developing countries, fertilizer subsidy has become a politically sensitive issue in Sri Lanka, since paddy farmers are the majority of voters in the country. Mostly, it has favorably affected paddy yield, self-sufficiency, effectiveness, and food security while there are many bad effects such as overuse of chemical fertilizer, ignoring organic fertilizer, dependency on imported fertilizers, a huge burden on the government budget, etc. Therefore, the objective of the study is to evaluate the impact of fertilizer subsidy on average paddy yield in Sri Lanka. Secondary data was gathered in order to find the impact of fertilizer subsidy on average paddy yield. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the impact of providing Urea and all fertilizers with the changes in fertilizer scheme from time to time and other data were represented using relevant graphs and tables. Can be seen a gradual increase in the import of fertilizer subsidy in Sri Lanka. In this study, it was found that fertilizer subsidy has a positive significant relationship with average paddy yield in Sri Lanka. So, it can be concluded that, the need for the existence of fertilizer subsidies in Sri Lanka with the moderation the of fertilizer subsidy scheme in order to reduce the huge government burden on fertilizer subsidy in Sri Lanka.