Former Agriculture Director K.B. Gunaratne said that a politician from the Southern Province (SP) who was in charge of agriculture during the previous government is directly responsible for the current shortage of red raw rice in the country.
He said that this situation arose due to his arbitrary political decisions and that for the past six years, the Agriculture Department was not working for the needs of the farmers, but to fulfil the arbitrary wishes of the politicians.
Speaking to the media in Kandy, Gunaratne also said; “People of the Southern Province consume red raw rice more than people of other provinces.
Also, there is a huge demand for red raw rice across the country.
“That is why at that time the farmers in the Southern Province as well as in other provinces cultivated AT 362 rice variety in large volumes. Due to this, there was a huge surplus of red raw rice in the country. Farmers even used to store this red raw rice. What the political authority did was to distribute 20 kilos of this red raw rice to families across the country free of charge.
“This is why red raw rice is so scarce. After that these people advised the farmers to grow Keeri Samba instead of red rice. This is the true story behind the scarcity of red raw rice.
Today there is no way to cook red raw milk rice to celebrate Thai Pongal, the most important religious and cultural festival of the Tamil people in this country. There is no red raw milk rice to offer to God.
“Now there is no time to grow red rice again. If this goes on, this rice shortage may last till next August and September. Now the Government is trying to stop the import of rice. Even if the Government brings 100,000 metric tons of rice, it is only sufficient for the consumption of the people of this country for 10 to 11 days.
If the Government does not implement a formal programme regarding this shortage of rice, the price of Nadu rice will increase to Rs. 330 to Rs. 350 per kilo in the future. Samba rice can go up to Rs. 380 to Rs. 400. Keeri Samba price goes up from Rs. 450. Red raw rice may not be available.”
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