Paddy purchasing issues solved soon – Agriculture Minister

Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that immediate steps will be taken to solve the problems that have arisen in purchasing paddy from farmers.

The Minister further said that since the Paddy Marketing Board has not allocated enough money for the paddy purchase, some amount of paddy has been purchased with the money received from the Treasury. In light of this situation, the farmers are not interested in selling paddy due to not getting the expected price, the Minister said.

The Minister said the above while responding to the problems raised by Parliamentarians regarding paddy purchase at the Ministerial Consultative Committee meeting on Agriculture held in Parliament last week (9).

The Minister pointed out that even if rice is purchased at the minimum price fixed for the paddy purchase, the Paddy Marketing Board will have to sell rice at a price lower than that price. Minister Amaraweera said that steps will be taken to solve the problems related to the paddy purchase through discussion with the relevant parties.

The MPs of Batticaloa and Ampara pointed out that farmers in the said districts had to buy fertilizers at a higher price as they started the season earlier than other areas. The Minister said that at the meeting held to decide on the season, he will focus on deciding the start date of the season in general. Minister Amaraweera also mentioned that attention has been paid to issuing a public announcement about the start date of the season so as to affect the entire island.

Furthermore, the Minister pointed out that the price of eggs is high due to the decrease in egg production and that the price of eggs may decrease in the future due to the gradual increase in production.

Minister Dr.Ramesh Pathirana, State Ministers D. B. Herath, Vijitha Berugoda, Mohan Priyadarshana De Silva, Kader Mastan, MPS A. H. M. Fowzie, Chandima Weerakkody, A. L. M. Athaullah, Piyankara Jayaratne, Sivagnanam Shritharan, Charles Nirmalanathan, Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, Upul Mahendra Rajapaksha, Waruna Liyanage, Kins Nelson, Thavaraja Kalai Arasan, Udayakantha Gunathilaka, Kulasingam Thileepan, Jagath Kumara Sumithraarachchi were present at the Committee meeting.

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