18,000 to 23,000 kilos of vegetables sold daily by Army

Tuesday, 18 January 2011 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Army which recently started selling vegetables to the public now sees between 18,000 to 23,000 kilos of vegetables sold daily to the public.

Military spokesman Major General Ubaya Medawala told the Daily FT that the vegetables are sold at the 20 outlets situated in Colombo and the suburbs, and an expansion of these outlets has not yet started.

by Shezna Shums

The variety of vegetables sold by the Army depends of the vegetables the farms are able to provide. Currently 13 to 15 varieties of vegetables are sold by the Army. Initially the Army had started by selling just four varieties of vegetables which were tomatoes, pumpkin, radish and cabbage.

The Army so far has not encountered any problems owing to rains or floods in transporting the vegetables to Colombo. The cost of transporting the vegetables to Colombo will be borne by the Army and not passed on to either the farmer or consumer.

The locations where the Army has begun selling vegetables are Maligawatte housing complex, Hyde Park, Muttiah Road, Torrington, Fort Railway Station, Borella, Rajagiriya, Ja Ela, Ekala, Katunayaka, Maharagama, Homagama and Kaduwela.

There are six permanent outlets selling vegetables and the balance will be mobile outlets.

This measure comes at the time when vegetables and other food items were becoming costlier, and last week even saw slight shortages of vegetables in some supermarkets due to the inability to bring them to Colombo following the severe flooding in some parts of the country.