Is this the right time to try it? Part 2

The BBC has spoken. Marco Silva, the corporation's Climate Change Disinformation Specialist, has ruled that claims on social media and from “various right-wing US and UK outlets that green policies” - in the form of the Rajapaksa government's 2021 seven-month ban on imports of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides - caused the collapse of the Sri Lankan economy are FALSE. 

If put like that, it's obviously false. Lots of factors contributed to the collapse. The question is did this move to promote organic farming play its significant part too?

It's a peculiar article. As well as its line-up of experts, claiming it wasn't a sincere policy and that the problem with it was that it was brought in too quickly, you get those little words like 'just' doing their work of nudging:

The government dropped the policy, just seven months after introducing it, following widespread protests.

But seven months of a complete ban on the imports of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides is hardly a short period of time for such a drastic policy, is it? And note the use of the word 'old' here:

But this week, as the presidential palace was stormed, many were quick to blame this old policy.

It's not that old. It ended just over half a year ago and had a major impact on the entire growing season in 2021. And half way through you get this:

And while banning chemical fertilisers indisputably hurt the economy, experts say several other factors contributed.

So if the ban indisputably hurt the economy and was a factor that contributed to the collapse, then how much did it contribute?

Isn't this Reality Check a spot of BBC greenwashing?

Here's what the BBC wrote about it in May under the headline Sri Lanka: Why is the country in an economic crisis?:

Is this the right time to try it?

A recent edition of Countryfile made a concerted effort to promote a positive view of 'regenerative farming'. But however fashionable it may be it's worth noting where utopian visions of farming can lead. A nationwide experiment in organic farming by the Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka went catastrophically wrong. In April 2021, Sri Lanka became the world’s first organic-only nation, by banning all agrochemicals.

 

Here's the start of an article from Foreign Policy from March that explained what happened next:

Faced with a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis, Sri Lanka called off an ill-conceived national experiment in organic agriculture this winter. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised in his 2019 election campaign to transition the country’s farmers to organic agriculture over a period of 10 years. Last April, Rajapaksa’s government made good on that promise, imposing a nationwide ban on the importation and use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and ordering the country’s 2 million farmers to go organic.

The result was brutal and swift. Against claims that organic methods can produce comparable yields to conventional farming, domestic rice production fell 20 percent in just the first six months. Sri Lanka, long self-sufficient in rice production, has been forced to import $450 million worth of rice even as domestic prices for this staple of the national diet surged by around 50 percent. The ban also devastated the nation’s tea crop, its primary export and source of foreign exchange.

Interestingly, even the BBC - last September - saw this coming.

It would be interesting to see a Justin Rowlatt report about this. Or Roger Harrabin.