Govt purchases 11,227 MT of rice

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

The Government has already purchased 11,227 metric tons of paddy worth Rs.192 million under the national paddy purchasing programme implemented to purchase the Yala paddy harvest.

In order to purchase the Yala paddy harvest, the Government has already disbursed a sum of Rs. 490 million to District Secretaries in all major paddy producing districts, an Agriculture Ministry spokesman told the Daily News yesterday.

On the directive of Agriculture, Public Security, Law and Order Minister and Deputy Defence Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, the national paddy purchasing programme is being successfully implemented throughout the country under the supervision of Deputy Agriculture Minister Jagath Pushpakumara.

There is a possibility of purchasing nearly 40,000 metric tons of paddy utilising this Rs.500 million allocated by the Government to purchase the Yala paddy harvest mainly through the Multi Purpose Co-operative Societies (MPCSs), Agrarian Service Centres and Farmer Societies.

MPCSs have purchased 7,984 metric tons of paddy, Agrarian Service Centres 2,734 metric tons and Farmer Societies 599 metric tons of paddy.

"There is a significant improvement in the Government's paddy purchasing programme. This has facilitated to minimise the difficulties encountered by farmers in selling their paddy. Farmers can obtain a Rs.16.50 per Kilo of Samba and red long paddy and Rs.15.50 per Kilo of other paddy varieties they produced," he said.

At present, paddy purchasing is conducted in 17 districts countrywide including the North-East areas. The highest amount, 3,041 metric tons of paddy has been purchased in the Ampara district.

In addition, 2,669 metric tons of paddy has been purchased in Batticaloa district while 1,883 Metric tons of paddy has been in the Polonnaruwa district. Anuradhapura district has purchased 1,352 Metic tons of paddy and 1,000 metric tons of paddy in Kilinochchi district.

The Multi Purpose Cooperative Societies (MPCSs) in Ampara district have purchased 2,090 metric tons of paddy while the Agrarian Service centres have purchased 951 metric tons of paddy.

Of the total amount of 2,669 metric tons of paddy purchased in Batticaloa district, 2,643 metric tons have been purchased by MPCSs and 25 metric tons by Agrarian Service centres.

MPCSs in Polonnaruwa have purchased 675 metric tons of paddy, Agrarian Service Centres 802 metric tons and Farmer Societies, 356 metric tons.

MPCSs in Anuradhapura have purchased 1,204 metric tons of paddy and Agrarian Service centres 148 metric tons of paddy. Kilinochchi MPCS has purchased 1,000 metric tons of paddy. In addition, Moneragala the District Agrarian Service Centre has also purchased nearly 722 metric tons of paddy.