Politics behind Sri Lanka paddy crisis

(August 27, 2010) Sri Lanka’s major opposition United National Party (UNP) Anuradhapura district MP P. Harrison charges that the farmers cannot afford a fair price for their rice harvest as a result of short-sighted policies of the government.

The MP pointed out that the government that was ahead of elections imported 122,330 metric tons of rice from January to May 2010. He also highlighted that 30,000 metric tons out of these rice stocks are still in markets.

The government accuses the UNP for selling 61 of the 378 paddy stores of the Paddy Marketing Board to the private sector. But MP P. Harrison said that some of the businessmen that purchased these building are politicians of the present government.

He also pointed out that the Act of Termination of Paddy Marketing Board was tabled in the parliament in 2000 by the present Prime Minister D.M. Jayarathna.

The farmers in the major paddy cultivating districts of Sri Lanka lament that they are unable to find a fair price for the harvest of the Yala season. Yala is not the major harvesting season and farmers faced less difficulty in other Yala seasons to sell their produce.

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Posted in paddy , Paddy Marketing Board , rice farming , rice harvest

40,000 METRIC TONS OF PADDY PURCHSED THIS SEASON

April 23, 2010: The government says it has purchased 40,000 metric tons of paddy from farmers so far this season.

The Ministry of Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services added that the process would continue uninterrupted.

“Offices of the paddy marketing board are open in all parts of the country for this purpose,” said S. Amarasekara, Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture Development and Agrarian Research.

Rs. 3,000 million have been allocated for purchasing paddy this season.

The Secretary to the Ministry noted that if those funds proved insufficient additional funds could also be obtained.

Farmers who bring their paddy to the storage facilities are paid Rs. 31.50 for a kilogramme of Samba while Nadu is purchased at Rs. 29.50 a kilogramme.

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Posted in paddy purchasing , rice harvest , Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka yielding the best ever Maha harvest

(April 21, 2010) Sri Lanka is now yielding the highest harvest that she gained in a ‘Maha’ season, reports say. ‘Maha’ is the most favorable season for paddy cultivation in Sri Lanka.

The Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture S. Amarasekara says that the harvest will reach to 2.6 million metric tons. This is an increase of 300,000 tons of the anticipated harvest of the Maha season this year. The agricultural authorities expected a harvest of 2.3 million. 

The Ministry commended the favorable weather conditions, fertilizer subsidy and the addition of the harvest of the Northern and Eastern Provinces to the national output for the sharp increase of harvest.

The Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture said that the Paddy Marketing Board under the Ministry has so far purchased 36,000 metric tons from the farmers. 

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Posted in Maha season , Ministry of Agriculture , rice harvest , S. Amarasekara