Nallathambi Mahendran walked through his four acres of emerald green paddy fields in northern Sri Lanka's Kilinochchi district, indicating the height the plants should have reached by now. They were several feet short.
The standing paddy crop across most of this major rice growing belt is stunted for the second successive season because of the lack of fertilizer, according to farmers, a union leader and local government officials.
In 10,900 hectares of land under cultivation in Kilinochchi, the average yield is likely to hit 2.3 metric tons per hectare, according to government estimates.