Rs.5,000 m allocated:

Govt. commences paddy purchasing

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

The Government has already commenced its national paddy purchasing program in all major paddy producing areas countrywide.

In order to successfully conduct this program, five zones have been set up to purchase paddy from farmers including Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Southern and Eastern provinces, an Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services Ministry spokesman told the Sunday Observer.

The Treasury has decided to release funds to co-operative societies to purchase paddy, he said.

The Government's paddy purchasing program is being conducted through the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB), Co-operatives and private sector dealers approved by the PMB to purchase paddy from farmers. A Kilo of Samba paddy is purchased at a certified price of Rs.30 while a Kilo of Nadu paddy is purchased at Rs.28, he said.

The spokesman denying the claims made by the Opposition on the reduction of paddy prices said the Government will purchase paddy from farmers under its certified prices. Paddy prices have not come down as the Opposition claims, he said.

He said the PMB has adequate storage facilities to store the paddy harvest purchased from farmers. If there is any shortage of storage facilities, steps will be taken to transport the purchased paddy to Colombo and store them in Government's stores in Colombo and suburbs.

After the eradication of terrorism, paddy cultivation in the Eastern province has shown a rapid increase. A bumper paddy harvest is also expected from the Eastern province during this Maha season, he added.