|
|
|
| Sunday, 7 August 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Govt will continue paddy purchases by Gamini Warushamana The Government will continue its paddy purchasing program which started last Maha season and purchase paddy at Rs. 15.50-16.00 per Kg, Agriculture Ministry officials said. The Treasury has allocated Rs. 500 million to purchase paddy. The Yala season paddy harvest is now coming in to the market while the previous Maha season stocks are still languishing in the stores which the authorities are still planning to purchase. The market price for rice in Mahaweli areas has dropped to Rs.9.00 per Kg last week and farmers are facing difficulties again. Mahaweli authority warehouses were rented to farmer societies and cooperative societies to purchase and store the previous Maha season paddy harvest. Most of the stocks are still lying in the stores. Therefore purchasing the Yala season harvest would be a problem. Mahaweli Marketing Division officials were not aware of any purchasing program as they were expecting instructions from the Ministry and Ministry officials were not aware about any plan or action taken even by August 2 when harvesting had already begun. Resident Project Manager of the Mahaweli System H. K. D. Amaradasa said that most of their warehouses were full with the previous Maha season harvest. Therefore they propose to provide money to private mill owners to purchase paddy at the government's recommended price. He was expecting Ministry instructions on paddy purchasing by Wednesday but according to Agriculture Ministry there was no warehouse problem, because instructions had been given to empty all warehouses before August 31. A Ministry spokesperson Mrs. I. Bandusena told the Sunday Observer that the existing stocks were not a problem because government entered into an agreement with World Food Program to provide 18,130 MTs of rice. Paddy purchasing was not totally successful during the last Maha season due to lack of warehouses and bureaucratic bottlenecks. Some district secretaries did not obtain the money allocated on time and distribute them to farmer societies and co-operative societies. A spokesman for the Agriculture Ministry said the problems will be overcome this season but the authorities were already late. Government will not purchase the whole harvest but only intervene to keep the price stable between Rs. 15-16. According to Mahaweli Authority officials the extent of paddy cultivation this Yala season has increased in the Mahaweli areas. Around 69% of the land was used for paddy cultivation and it is a 12% increase compared to the previous year. Paddy cultivation is done generally during the Yala season in about 30-50% of the Mahaweli agro lands while the rest of the lands are used for other field crops. This increase is mainly due to various incentives and encouragement given by the government, Mahaweli authority officials said. Paddy cultivation in the Mahaweli areas were not affected this season and the Mahaweli authority expects a higher yield. Statistician K.C.J Bambarande said that they expect a yield of 5.5 MT per hectare and the total harvest would be over 353,000 MTs. Meanwhile, the Secretary, Ministry of Trade, S. Virithamulla said that
the government will not import rice, since the existing stocks and the yala
season harvest are sufficient to meet the demand. The market price of rice
has come to a reasonable level for consumers as well as farmers, he said. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
