Agriculture Minister To Submit Cabinet Paper To Obtain Money For PMB To Buy Maha Harvest
Shakila Ifham
January 6, 2023
The Ministry of Agriculture, Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation has arranged to submit a cabinet paper to obtain necessary funds from the Treasury through the two main state banks on a reasonable interest rate for the purchase of paddy by the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) in the 2022/23 Maha season.
Minister Amaraweera has signed the cabinet paper and steps will be taken to present it to the cabinet next week.
Some 777,000 hectares of paddy have been cultivated during the Maha season. Urea and MOP fertilizers required by paddy farmers have been supplied in required quantities countrywide.
The Department of Agriculture has confirmed that no deficiencies in the quality of crops have been reported from any area, a senior official said
Current facts confirm that if there is no impact of any drought, flood or insect damage in the future and it will be possible to get a higher paddy harvest this Maha season.
The Maha season paddy harvesting is scheduled to begin from the first week of February, 300,000 tonnes of paddy harvest to be purchased by the Paddy Marketing Board.
Under its first phase, the Paddy Marketing Board is ready to purchase 100,000 tonnes of paddy, said PMB Acting Chairman Buddhika Iddamalgoda.
He said that the amount of money required to buy paddy during this season will be determined based on the decision made after the price determination committee is appointed with the approval of the Cabinet. The acting chairman also mentioned that at least seven billion rupees will be required.
Although the Cabinet of Ministers approved an amount of 2000 million rupees for the purchase of paddy by the Paddy Marketing Board in the last season, due to the economic crisis, two state banks could not release the necessary financial allocations.
However, the Paddy Marketing Board took steps to buy 7070 tonnes of paddy by spending 850 million rupees from the funds available to it.
The Board expresses confidence that the Paddy Marketing Board will be able to purchase more of the paddy harvest this year under the government’s program for food security.
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