Rice exported to Maldives

Government commences pilot project :

Irangika Range

COLOMBO: The Government has commenced the pilot project of exporting rice to Maldives with the assistance of the private sector.

Maldives will purchase 240 Metric Tonnes of Samba rice annually from Sri Lanka. The first stock of the samba rice was exported yesterday under the patronage of Agricultural Development and Agrarian Services Development Minister Maithripala Sirisena, Irrigation and Water Management Minister Chamal Rajapaksa and Agrarian Service Deputy Minister Siripala Gamlath.

Addressing the event, Minister Sirisena said Maldives has agreed to import more samba rice from Sri Lanka.

He said that the Government has commenced the joint programme with the assistance of the private sector for popularising high quality local rice to meet the demand of the international market under various brand names.

Though many successful steps have been taken by Governments to increase paddy production, there was no proper programme to increase the demand of the international market for local rice.

"We should supply rice to the international market according to requirements of the consumers in each country and the quality is the important point," the Minister said.

The Government's major aim is to export more rice and it is in the process of exploring the possibility of exporting rice to other countries. The programme of rice exports to Maldives is implemented by the International Foods (Pvt) Ltd.