https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211121-sri-lanka-ends-farm-chemical-ban-as-organic-drive-fails

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/sri-lanka-rows-back-organic-farming-goal-removes-ban-chemical-fertilisers-2021-11-24/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/20/sri-lanka-fertiliser-ban-president-rajapaksa-farmers-harvests-collapse


https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/05/sri-lanka-organic-farming-crisis/




Ban lasted less than one year but apparently cut Tea yields (source of nearly all their foreign trade) in half on two successive crops and there is going to be permanent damage which will take a decade to undo.  Farmers have committed suicide, workers laid off, nation has run out of foreign currency with which to purchase fuel, all economic activity in cities at a standstill due to lack of transportation and electricity.   

There are a lot of current stories in the media that blame the lack of gasoline and diesel on systemic political corruption, etc.  None of the ones I read mentioned the actual proximate cause:  a ban on fertilizer and farm chemicals, which in turn destroyed their exports and only remaining source of foreign currency.  Prior to pandemic they also had tourism, but that was reduced to nothing during pandemic years.