Tax on imported rice raised

Uditha KUMARASINGHE

COLOMBO: The Government has decided to increase present nine rupee tax imposed per Kilo of imported rice up to Rs.20 with immediate effect.

The Government has taken this decision following submissions by Agriculture Development Ministry officials at the Inter Ministerial Coordination Committee meeting which represents 18 ministries.

The Government has increased the tax on imported rice with the intention of preventing a decrease of local rice prices when imported rice varieties come to local market at low prices, Agriculture Development Ministry spokesman told the Daily News yesterday.

The reaping of 2005/2006 Maha paddy harvest has already commenced in several parts of the country. According to Ministry there is a possibility of obtaining nearly 2.1 million Metric tons of paddy harvest from this years Maha season.

In order to provide a fair price to the paddy farmers and minimise the import of rice, the Agriculture Development Minister proposed to increase the tax imposed on imported rice. As a result, present nine rupee tax has been increased to Rs.20 per Kilo of imported rice.

The Ministry has also taken measures to increase the consumption of local rice and local rice flour based food products particularly among the people in urban areas and estate areas, he said.

The Government has already commenced the purchase of Maha paddy harvest with the assistance of Agrarian Service Centres, Multi Purpose Co-operative Societies, Mahaweli Authority and Farmer Societies.

The Government has already set up over 100 purchasing centres in all major paddy producing districts. This includes Polonnaruwa (21), Anuradhapura (20), Hambantota (7) and Ampara (12).

In addition, the District Secretaries have commenced a large number of purchasing centres in Kurunegala, Ratnapura, Moneragala, Puttalam, Vavuniya and Mannar districts.

Since the Government has taken every possible measures to provide higher price for local paddy, Agriculture Development Ministry Secretary Tissa Warnasuriya requests the farmers not to create any unnecessary fear that local paddy prices will come down once the imported rice varieties come to the local market.