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| Sunday, 24 August 2003 |
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NCCSL hails minister's stand on agriculture The Agriculture and Food Committee of the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) commended the stand taken by Ravi Karunanayake, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs on the Government's support for farmers. The Minister had said the Government would continue to support farmers and the agriculture sector. Lal de Alwis, Chairman NCCSL's Agriculture and Food Committee said when most European countries, USA and Japan continue with government support for farmers, Sri Lanka should not withdraw such support. As about 40 per cent of the population is directly and another 40 per cent indirectly involved in agriculture, we must not further reduce tariff on agriculture and agro-based products. "If tariff is reduced further, we will kill our agriculture and agro-based industries with cheap imports and dumping. We should consider the rural poverty, rural employment, food security and urban migration," he said. NCCSL is also of the view that the Government should increase the urea subsidy for the benefit of paddy farmers and introduce a subsidiary for muriate of potash for the benefit of the coconut industry. NCCSL expects the Minister to influence officials at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations in September on Sri Lanka's stand. M. Z. Caffoor, Co-Chairman of the Committee said that while utilising tariff protection, we should adopt advance technology in our agriculture sector and make it more competitive as world trade will be fully liberalised under the WTO in the future. |
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