Jaffna self - sufficient in rice for three months - GA

By Shanika Sriyananda in Jaffna

With the bumper Maha harvest the Jaffna peninsula will be self-sufficient in rice for the next three months.

Government Agent, Jaffna K. Ganesh said that food security in Jaffna was at a satisfactory level and there were ample stocks of essential items. "The people in Jaffna do not need rice from Colombo for the next three months", he said.

The G. A. told the 'Sunday Observer' that this was mainly due to the commitment of the government to send pesticides, seed paddy and fertiliser in time and the commitment of the farmers. "In addition to the Maha harvest, Jaffna has a stock of rice which is sufficient for two and a half months. This time the weather has been extremely kind to us too", he said.

According to the Jaffna GA, there is a good stock of the red nadu, which is the main rice variety in Jaffna which is sufficient for their domestic consumption. "Except Pentorch batteries all other items including almost all essential food items are freely available in the peninsula. The price difference is only 10-15 percent compared to the prices prevailing in Colombo due to high transportation costs", he said.

Since the land routes are sealed off, the Jaffna Peninsula depends entirely on sea transportation where eight ships are in operation in transporting goods. He said that the food distribution was done through the Co-operative outlets but over 4,000 private traders, who had stopped their business after the closure of the A9 road, were now actively engaged in business.

The GA, said though the harvest of other crops is high, cultivators face the problem of selling these products in time as they are perishable food items.

"Arrangements have been setup to open a grape wine factory in Jaffna with the help of the UNDP to facilitate these farmers and also to encourage them to continue cultivation", he said.

Jaffna has a stock of over 2,000 metric tonnes of wheat flour and it is sold of less than Rs. 9 compared to the prices in Colombo. Fuel is freely available in Jaffna and the price difference on a litre of petrol is Rs. 10 compared to Colombo. Two ships are carrying petrol, diesel and kerosene to Jaffna are sold through authorised dealers", he said.According to Ganesh, the high prices of gas, which is now the main source of cooking in Jaffna will get LP gas at Rs. 3,000 which was around Rs. 6,000 earlier.

"The transportation costs is the main cause for the present high prices in the Jaffna. The cost to transport a metric tonne of goods is US $ 85 - US $ 90 and this is passed on to the Jaffna consumers," he said.