Farmers to get 17,000rs worth of diesel

The Ministry of Agriculture decided yesterday (07) to provide 17,000 rupees worth of diesel to the farmers of 65,000 acres whose crops were damaged due to drought in the last yala season. This subsidy is provided in addition to the subsidy amount of 15,000 rupees provided by the government for the purchase of fertilizers and the compensation amount of 100,000 rupees per hectare.

A discussion was held yesterday (06) under the patronage of the Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industry Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera about the relief to be given to the farmers who suffered crop damage. A group of officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Department of Agricultural Development and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation also participated.

In the last season, the Chinese government provided 6.5 million liters of diesel for free distribution to the farmers in this country. 02 million liters of diesel was left as a large number of small paddy farmers did not come to get their quota of fuel.

Therefore, the Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industry, Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera, decided to give this stock of fuel to the farmers who were unable to carry out cultivation activities in the Maha season.

Accordingly, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera yesterday instructed all relevant officials to take steps to immediately distribute this amount of fuel to all the farmers who suffered crop damage at the rate of 40 liters per farmer.

Accordingly, in the next two days, this stock of diesel will be distributed to all the farmers whose crops were damaged.

He also decided to give priority to the farmers of the Udawalawa Reservoir, whose crops were deserted due to drying up. Many paddy fields were destroyed because the water from Samanalawewa was not supplied to the Udawala reservoir at the right time. Therefore, the damage caused to the farmers in the Walawa zone should be considered as a Man Made Disaster and priority should be given to them, the minister said.

Today, the farmers who suffered crop losses in the Walawa zone do not have at least meals also. These farmers are the ones who produced seed paddy for the country. Therefore, the minister also mentioned that it is the government’s responsibility to take care of all those farmers.

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