Saturday, 13 July 2013 00:31
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Since the yala 2013 harvesting season of local big onions has begun and stocks have started arriving in the market, the Government has decided to increase the special commodity levy on imported big onions in order to ensure a better and reasonable price for local farmers who are engaged in cultivation of big onions.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Finance and Planning notified that the special commodity levy charged on a kilo of big onions has been increased from Rs. 15 to Rs. 30 with effect from 12 July 2013.
The Government provides seeds and fertiliser to the farmers in order to boost local agriculture. Particularly, high import taxes are imposed on products such as chillies, cowpea, green gram, peanuts, sugar and kurakkan which are locally produced to ensure a high price for the production of local farmers.
“The country is self-sufficient in some products, such as rice and maize and currently local farmers are able to supply their production to meet 50% of the consumption requirement of the country,” the Finance Ministry said.
