Higher price for Maha paddy harvest

Farmers will be offered a higher guaranteed price for their Maha paddy harvest under a special program formulated by the Government on the directions of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Under this program, farmers will be offered a guaranteed price of Rs. 28 per kilo for Nadu variety of paddy and Rs. 30 per kilo for Samba.

This price structure was decided at a meeting held at the Finance and Planning Ministry to review the Maha paddy purchasing exercise.

The meeting presided by Ministry Secretary Dr. P. B. Jayasundera was attended by all Government agents and other relevant officials countrywide.

A Ministry release said the Treasury has allocated Rs. 3,000 million to the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) for purchasing paddy under the guaranteed price. Apart from the PMB, Co-operative Societies recommended by the respective Government Agents would also be sanctioned to purchase paddy at the guaranteed price. State banks will provide Rs. 2,000 million to co-operative societies for this program under the Government's agricultural credit scheme.

Harvesting of the Maha crop has already commenced and the harvest has already started reaching the market, it was observed at the meeting.