Govt ready to purchase full harvest

Chaminda PERERA

SLFP General Secretary and Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services Minister Maithripala Sirisena yesterday requested all farmers not to sell their paddy stocks to paddy mill owners and merchants as the Government is prepared to purchase their full harvest.

Addressing a press conference at the Mahaweli Centre yesterday , the Minister said a number of Government warehouses in Colombo are being kept ready in case of storage facilities belonging to the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) in the outstations are filled with paddy.

The Minister added that a bumper harvest was recorded in all paddy producing areas in the country and 50 percent paddy harvest has already been purchased by the PBM from the first week of this month.

He said the Government is paying a commission of 50 cents per kilo to the dealers who bring paddy from farmers to the purchasing centre. Farmers can get this commission if they take their paddy stocks to the centre.

The Minister said the Government is also paying transport cost to farmers if they bring their stocks to the centre. The Government buys a kilo of Nadu at Rs. 28 and Samba at Rs. 30.

“We have received reports that paddy mill owners and paddy merchants are hovering in the districts where paddy is mainly cultivated to purchase their produce much below the Government prices”.

The Minister said the Finance Ministry has allocated Rs. 4,000 million for the purchase of paddy initially and additional allocations can also be sought if funds are not sufficient.

Minister Sirisena said the Paddy Purchasing Centre issues a stock receipt to the farmers and this receipt can be en cashed in banks at any time.