Mahinda on paddy purchase price

By Ashwin Hemmathagama – Our Lobby Correspondent

Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday called on the Government to increase the price of paddy to Rs. 50 per kilogram and also to continue the fertiliser subsidy to help farmers reduce production costs.

Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa

Blaming the Government for the rice price increase adversely affecting consumers, Rajapaksa questioned the Government’s plans to absorb the excess harvest expected shortly and to bring down the consumer price.

“Although the Government claims to have allocated Rs. 5 billion for the purchase of paddy, in comparison with the expected harvest, this amount is totally insufficient. Moreover, although the Government claims to have allocated funds for the purchase of paddy, to date, not even paddy storages have been set up so far.”

“Despite the Government stipulating a guaranteed price for paddy as Rs. 38 for a kilo of Nadu and Rs. 41 for a kilo of Samba, the farmers claim that currently Nadu paddy is sold at Rs. 24-28 while Samba is sold for Rs. 38. Over the past several years, the price of rice has not reduced, and Samba sells for Rs. 120 per kilo and Nadu at Rs. 80 per kilo in the market. Therefore, it is not hard to see how much the middleman earns per kilo of paddy,” added Rajapaksa.

According to Rajapaksa, during his controversial 52-day Cabinet last year, the farmers were given a fertiliser subsidy, which positively affected the harvest and urged the Government to continue the fertiliser subsidy.

“During our Government, we built 300 paddy storage facilities. But the current Government has closed these storages and has allowed the private traders to purchase paddy from farmers directly to suit their own whims at very low prices,” he added.

According to the Department of Agriculture, 700,000 hectares of paddy lands have been cultivated and the expected harvest is around 3.3 million metric tons.