Rs 500 m allocated for Yala paddy purchases

Chaminda PERERA

The Treasury yesterday allocated Rs. 500 million to the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) to expedite paddy purchasing in the Yala season.

According to Cooperatives and Internal Trade Minister Johnston Fernando , the Paddy Marketing Board has been issued specific instructions to take every possible effort to expedite the paddy purchasing drive throughout the country. He scoffed at rumours that the government has stopped purchasing paddy from farmers.

The minister stressed that the government's paddy purchasing drive continues uninterrupted.

Minister Fernando added that he has already directed the PMB Chairman K.B. Jayasinghe to purchase the paddy directly from the farmers in order to save them from the middlemen.