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by Gamini Warushamana

The Government has placed confidence in the open market operation rather than direct government intervention in purchasing paddy for the upcoming Maha season. The authorities are now taking steps to ensure a profitable price for farmers which continuously failed during the last two years despite strong government commitments.

Last week the government increased customs duty on imported rice by Rs.11 per Kilo and wheat flour by Rs.10. In addition several medium and long term programs are now under way to make a competitive market for local paddy production.

The Department of Census and Statistics said that the estimated harvest for the season is 1,950,000 MT (90 million bushels). The Department does not expect any significant increase in the harvest as a result of the increased fertiliser usage because this impact was offset by the heavy rainfall during the previous months.

Mahaweli officials too expect 5.0-5.5 MT/ Hectare harvest. Harvesting in Mahaweli areas will begin by the end of this month.

Resident Project Manager's office Mahaweli System H, said that there is a significant increase in fertiliser usage in Mahaweli zones. Mahaweli zone H managed paddy purchasing successfully during the last two years.

Bureaucratic delays are rampant in the paddy purchasing system. Purchasing is done by farmers societies, co-operative societies and private mill owners with treasury funds and concessional bank loans.

However, officials said that selling the stock is the issue and not the purchasing. There are 183 tonnes of the previous year's stocks in warehouses. We are purchasing paddy with treasury money and farmers societies have an agreement with the government agent. Due to this agreement there is no flexibility in selling the stocks, officials said. The GA wants to sell the stock to the Department of Food, but the department is not ready to purchase it.

Officials of the Mahaweli Ministry said that they expect MT 425,000 harvest in this maha season from 10 Mahaweli zones. However, the Ministry expects to purchase a small portion of the harvest directly. The Ministry has requested Rs.262 million from the treasury for the purpose and is preparing warehouses for 15,000 MT, officials said.

Ministry officials are also working to minimise the bureaucratic bottlenecks experienced in previous years. Treasury funds are coming through the government agents of the district and in some instances funds were not available by the time the harvesting starts. To avoid this sort of problems ministry officials have held discussions with the treasury and relevant government agents, officials said.

Meanwhile, the Mahaweli Ministry is implementing a long term program to solve the paddy marketing problem in Mahaweli zones. The Ministry provides land to start rice mills and already 60 rice mills have been set up by private entrepreneurs.

Paddy marketing is a major issue in Mahaweli B and C zones. Zone B borders the conflict area in the North East and therefore private traders are reluctant to go into the zone.

In zone C, transportation is a major problem because the shortest access to the area is the Kandy-Mahiyangana road with 18 elbow bends. To overcome the problem the ministry encourages rice production in the zone. Already 40 mills have been set up and today they provide quality rice for Cargils and several other private retailers.

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