Former Prime Minister and UNP MP Ranil Wickremesinghe said the government's real problem is not chemical fertiliser but the growing foreign currency crisis.

Speaking during an online discussion, Wickremesinghe said the government went on to ban the importation of chemical fertiser as a desperate measure to ease the foreign exchange issue.

"The ultimate result of the fertiliser ban is the shrinking production. As a result. the government is now forced to import rice. Are those imported products made with organic fertiliser?" Wickremesinghe questioned.

The former Prime Minister said only 1.5% cultivated lands worldwide use completely organic fertiliser.