At Adjournment:

Govt purchasing paddy from PMB

Uditha Kumarasinghe, Irangika Range and Sandasen Marasinghe

Kotte: Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services Minister Maithripala Sirisena yesterday told Parliament that the Government is in the process of purchasing nadu paddy at Rs.20 and samba paddy at Rs.22 from February 20 through the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB).

A new director board has been appointed to the PMB which has been defunct for the past few years. He said the Opposition was making baseless allegations that the Government’s inefficiency in purchasing paddy from the local farmers’ had denied them a good price for their paddy.

Responding to the adjournment motion moved by JVP MP S. K. Subasinghe, the Minister said the Government’s intention is to provide relief to rice consumers while providing the best prices for the paddy farmers.

“We have given a number of concessions to the small and medium scale rice millers to sustain them in the industry,” he said.

He said in this context the motion was without basis. He said over 10,000 families are dependent on paddy cultivation. “We have received a paddy harvest of 2 million metric tonnes for the maha season.

The technical aspects should be upgraded in the paddy production to increase the demand locally and internationally. Many large scale rice mills have been sold under previous regimes and we are in the process of reviving the industry implementing a long term plan.

“There are a lot of campaigns going on to defame my character with the objective of defeating me at future elections. I never hesitate on taking measures to protect paddy farmers while providing facilities to the industry,” he said.

JVP MP S. K. Subasinghe said paddy harvest for maha season is being supplied to the market and farmer community is at great difficulty due to receiving less prices for their paddy.

The Government should formulate a mechanism to purchase paddy at least providing Rs. 25 per kilo. Small and medium rice mill owners are not operating now due to prevailing situation.

Farmers are also finding it difficult to survive and they are even unable to pay their bank loans. A monopoly has been created by large scale mill owners and the Government tries to protect them. Paddy in Anuradhapura and Ampara are being sold at very low prices.