The Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industry Mahinda Amaraweera said today in the Parliament that the purchase of paddy will not be done through the Paddy Marketing Board this year and it will be done through the Ministry of Finance this year. In addition to this, the minister said in Parliament today that he is preparing to purchase paddy through giving loans at low interest rates to small and medium scale mill owners.
Speaking further, he mentioned that 6 billion rupees have been given to farmers for this season for fertilizers and another 3 billion rupees will be allocated to farmers today (09).
The minister further said that even if there is some delay in carrying out these activities due to the ongoing financial crisis, the amount of 12000 million rupees spent per season for the fertilizer subsidy will be given without fail.
Kaweesha Vidanagamage