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| Tuesday, 5 August 2003 |
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by Uditha Kumarasinghe The Agriculture Ministry will export one hundred thousand metric tons of rice with a view to offer a higher price to the local paddy harvest collected by the farmers during the 2002-2003 Maha season. This follows a discussion held by Agriculture, Livestock and Samurdhi Minister S.B.Dissanayake with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, a senior Ministry official told the Daily News yesterday. Five countries including Indonesia have already expressed willingness to import rice from Sri Lanka, he said. He said this year's Maha season has brought a bumper harvest with a record yield of 1.93 million Metric tons the highest ever in a Maha season. As a result, local paddy production has reached a recorded figure. However a large surplus of the Maha paddy harvest are still in stock. As a remedy, Minister Dissanayake who discussed the matter with the Premier has decided to export 100,000 metric tons of rice to safeguard local paddy farmers by granting them the maximum possible price which the Government could offer for their paddy, he said. The Agriculture Ministry has requested rice mill owners and rice suppliers for an immediate supply of over 10,000 metric tons of rice meeting with export quality. They can contact the Ministry Secretary over the telephone numbers 01-868920, 869553 and 872093 or meet the Ministry Secretary. The rice suppliers should also submit their rice samples. The official said that 660,000 hectares had been cultivated during the 2002-2003 Maha season whereby 1.93 million metric tons of paddy were harvested, which is the biggest ever harvest in terms of the land area cultivated. The previous highest Maha yield was 1.7 million metric tons in the 2001-2002 Maha season. Compared with the previous Maha season, the 2002-2003 season has recorded a 15 per cent increase in yield, he said. The peace process has enabled farmers in Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara districts to engage freely in their cultivation. An additional 100,000 hectares of paddy lands have been cultivated during this Maha season compared with the previous Maha season. "At present the country is in a very good position with regard to paddy cultivation. This has enabled the country to meet its total rice requirement locally and also export the rice surplus in the country. In addition, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed authorities to stop rice imports." Meanwhile, it is expected that this year will also witness a record Yala season with an anticipated target of 1.52 million metric tons of paddy cultivated in 401,551 hectares of land throughout the country. Therefore the Yala season will also result in a large number of paddy stocks in the local market. In order to overcome this situation the Agriculture Ministry has made arrangements to export rice to several foreign countries, he said. |
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