'Sweeping changes to rice marketing systems'

The Government will introduce sweeping changes to the production and distribution system of the country's staple food, rice and stop entrenched corruption in the sector, the country's top paddy purchase entity has been removed from direct purchases with immediate effect.

“We will break the monopoly affecting the entire rice sector of Sri Lanka. We will not allocate money to the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) to buy paddy as the PMB has become corrupt," Food Security Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera told a press briefing at the CWE building, Colombo.

“We want to safeguard the producer and the consumer. If wholesalers can reduce prices then the consumer will benefit. The prices of the same product are different from town to town showing an imbalance. It is time to strengthen the Consumer Affairs Authority,” said Minister Perera.

“Minister Bathiudeen and myself have decided to appoint a designated Price Control Officer for every single electorate.

They will supervise whether the government's price list, given by us, is implemented by shops and sellers," he said.

They will also look into shortages of goods.

"We will monitor imports of essential and other consumer goods. We want to break the monopoly affecting the entire rice sector," Minister Perera said.

"Following last week's discussion with rice mill owners, we hope to revive the rice mills that were closed down, most of which are SMEs.

We are encouraging farmers to sell paddy to small and medium scale mills, rather than the large scale mills to decentralise and break the monopoly," he said.

"In some rice growing areas about 90 percent of the mills have been closed due to the strict monopolistic control exercised by the former government which gave permission to only selected people or mills," Minister Perera said.

The SME mill owners have said that 60 percent of the closed mills could be revived promptly.

"We have ordered the banks to give details of the money owed by each mill and the nature of the loan by Monday.

Paddy is now being harvested and the Cabinet on Thursday decided to issue Keeri Samba rice at Rs 50 per kilo, Samba rice at Rs 45 per kilo and Nadu at 40 per kilo," he said.