But the biggest and main problem causing Sri Lanka’s fall was its ban on chemical fertilizers in April 2021. Over 90% of Sri Lanka’s farmers had used chemical fertilizers and, after the ban, 85% experienced crop losses. After the fertilizer ban, rice production fell 20% and prices skyrocketed 50 percent in just six months. Sri Lanka had to import $450 million worth of rice despite having been self-sufficient in the grain just months earlier. The price of carrots and tomatoes rose five-fold. Tea, the nation’s main export, also suffered, thereby undermining the nation’s foreign currency and ability to purchase products from abroad.

Links included in the above text

https://www.economist.com/asia/2021/10/16/a-rush-to-farm-organically-has-plunged-sri-lankas-economy-into-crisis

https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-seeks-rice-bailout-from-china-after-fertilizer-ban-89819/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/world/asia/sri-lanka-organic-farming-fertilizer.html

Even the NYT calls environmentalism bullshit bullshit "Then came Sri Lanka’s sudden, and disastrous, turn toward organic farming"