Cabinet approves fresh support for farmers

The Cabinet this week has approved the provision of a variety of assistance to farmers as relief and support to boost their crop and income after being affected by floods in Maha Season 2010/2011.

The category of farmers who will benefit include the following: seed paddy up to a maximum of one hectare free of charge, to farmers whose crops were totally damaged; seeds for other field crops up to an extent of 0.2 hectares free of charge to farmers whose crops were damaged; and provision of financial assistance at the rate of Rs. 4,000, per 0.4 hectare through the Ministry of Economic Development, for re- cultivation purposes.

The cost of this assistance has to be met within the financial allocation of Rs. 33 billion approved by the Cabinet recently on the basis of a Cabinet Paper on “Impact of recent Flood - A Framework for relief and recovery programme for the Flood Affected Districts.”

The Cabinet also approved purchasing of paddy stocks for Maha Season 2010/2011 by Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) at a cost of Rs 5.8 billion.

Harvesting in the Maha Season 2010/2011 in the Kilinochchi and Kurunegala Districts and in the Eastern Province is to commence within the next few weeks, and on a proposal made by Minister of Co-operatives and Internal Trade Johnston Fernando, Cabinet approval was granted for the purchase of 200,000 MT of paddy by the Paddy Marketing Board at the rate of Rs.30 per kilo of Samba and Rs.28 per kilo of Nadu.

The District Secretaries will be associated in the process and funds required for the purchase of paddy by the Paddy Marketing Board will be made available in the form of pledged loans by the State Banks.