Rice prices to be gazetted

Agriculture Minister P. Harrison said yesterday that a maximum retail price for rice would be imposed from April and that a gazette notification on this matter would be issued on April 1.

He said the price of a kg of Nadu rice will be sold at Rs.80 while a kg of Samba rice will be sold at Rs. 85. The minister said the decision was taken to safeguard rice mill owners, paddy cultivators and consumers. “We discussed about the matter with rice mill owners. A kg of Nadu paddy is purchased from farmers at Rs.38 while a kg of Samba paddy at R s . 4 1 , and they had agreed to sell a kg of Nadu rice at Rs.80 and samba at Rs.85,” he said.

He said this in response to a question raised by opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa saying that the intermediators were earning huge profits in the rice market. The opposition leader alleged that the government had failed to introduce a proper mechanism to purchase paddy cultivation in this Maha season.

He said even though the government claimed that Rs.5 billion had been allocated for paddy purchase, it is not sufficient in comparison to the expected paddy harvest this year. He said their temporary government in October reintroduced the fertilizer concession and urged the government not to cancel it again.

Minister Harrison said the ministry had taken steps to open 118 paddy purchasing centres out of the 207 managed by the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) for paddy buying purposes and added that the other centres would also be opened when cultivation is commenced in all districts.

He rejected the allegation made by Mr. Rajapaksa that the government had cancelled fertilizer concession and added that a budget proposal was handed over to provide fertilizer free of charge to the paddy cultivators.