The Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera said in Parliament today (09) that there should be no undue fear that there will be a shortage of rice in the country.
The Minister said that the propaganda that there would be a shortage of rice in the face of 50 percent paddy cultivation was untrue and that the required rice is already in the country to last until the final week of December.
The Minister said that 350,000 metric tons of rice had been imported and expressed confidence that another 400,000 metric tons would have to be imported.
The Minister said that the food crisis was due to the increase in prices and that was why the people were being asked to cultivate anything.
Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that many farmers had gone down to the paddy fields due to predicting whether there would be a shortage of rice and he is happy that people took the good side of educating them in advance.
Do not hide the raw rice. They rot. It was also decided to import rice. It was also decided to distribute rice from the Paddy Marketing Board’s stock. Accordingly, we will take steps to give a kilo of rice to the people for less than Rs. 200, said Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.
