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SL Prez imposes immediate ban on palm oil import
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SME Times News Bureau | 06 Apr, 2021
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has imposed an immediate ban on
the import of palm oil and ordered the gradual removal of the crops, in a
move to eliminate the environmentally harmful cultivations in the
country, an official said on Tuesday.
Rajapaksa on Monday ordered
his officials to promulgate laws preventing fresh imports of palm oil,
releasing already imported stocks to the markets and gradually starting
to uproot palm plantations, dpa news agency quoted a spokesperson for
the presidential office as saying.
"The objective of the
President is to free the country of use of palm oil and eradicate palm
cultivations from the country," the spokesperson said.
In the
run-up to the presidential elections in 2019, Rajapaksa vowed to stop
palm cultivation in the country after villages complained about the
environmental damage it causes, including deforestation, soil erosion
and water pollution.
Under a phased out plan to stop palm
cultivation, the President ordered the uprooting of 10 per cent of
existing palm plantations annually, and that they be replaced by rubber
or environmentally friendly crops.
However, no immediate reason was given for the ban on imports of palm oil into the country.
The
move by the government to ban palm oil imports met immediate resistance
from a section of industry that uses palm oil to manufacture bakery
products, animal feed and soaps.
Sri Lanka imports around 200,000 tonnes of palm oil annually, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, according to trade sources.
There are currently around 11,000 hectares of palm plantations in the country.
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