In the upcoming yala season, the government has focused on providing a subsidy amount to all farmers for cultivation activities in the form of vouchers or in the form of credit to farmers’ accounts.
The government has taken steps to offer this financial subsidy with the aim of reducing the production costs of the farmers.
Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera says that he discussed with President Ranil Wickramasinghe in this regard.
The minister also mentioned that the President expressed his agreement there.
Yesterday (25), the gathering of rice from the farmers of Hambantota district for the ‘Aluth Sahal Mangalyaya’ to be held in front of Anuradhapura Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi on April 02 was done at the Lunama Agrarian Service Center and the Minister expressed these views while participating.
“We are giving these subsidies to farmers to reduce their production costs. Also, the government aims to provide rice to consumers at a low price. Therefore, the government always takes steps to provide necessary relief to the farmers to uplift the agriculture of this country. The minister also mentioned that the government has allocated 59,000 million rupees this year only for the subsidy of other fertilizers, apart from the concessions such as providing free mud fertilizer.
The government has also decided to further reduce the price of a bundle of urea fertilizer, which is currently sold at Rs. 10,000, as per the cabinet’s decision, just as the government has taken steps to provide mud fertilizer for free in the Yala season.
Also, the minister mentioned that measures will be taken to reduce the price of a bundle of Bundi fertilizer which was sold for Rs. 19,500 during the Maha season, by a considerable amount.
In the meantime, the minister expressed his opinion regarding the government’s paddy purchase program and stated that the statements made by some farmers’ organization representatives to some media influenced the government to decide the maximum price per kilo of paddy which is Rs. 100.
Even before the paddy was harvested, some farmer representatives stated that paddy was being sold for Rs. 55 and 60 per kilo in their districts.
The minister also said that because of this, the government decided to pay Rs. 100 as the government should give a higher price than the price they mentioned.
