FARMERS SELLING PADDY AT HIGHER PRICE: SOURCES

Marketing of Paddy in the country had taken a new turn with informed government sources stating that the farmers were getting a higher price by selling their produce to the private buyers despite their complaints that they are not getting an adequate price from the government.

Inside sources from the government told the Daily Mirror that farmers had been lured by the private buyers who were offering Rs 36 for a kilo of Samba and Rs 30 for a kilo of Na- du.

The government purchases a kilo of Samba at Rs 30 per kilo and Nadu rice at Rs 28 a kilo.

The Minister of Internal Trade and Cooperatives Johnston Fernando made a somewhat similar statement stating that the pro opposition forces were indulging in unscrupulous acts to put the purchasing process of the Paddy Marketing Board in jeopardy. He further said these forces were trying to tarnish the image of the Paddy Marketing Board.

Minister Fernando added that the government had already purchased 6000 metric tons of paddy to date during this season. He assured that the government would continue to purchase paddy from the farmers despite the adverse campaigns carried out by the opposition. “Opposition politicians are making a vain effort to become heroes that save the farmers,” he said. He recalled that the government purchased a record stock of 115,000 metric tons of paddy during the last Maha season.

The All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation National Organiser Namal Karunaratne dismissed this allegation and said it was the government that sold paddy to a few private mill owners who run a paddy marketing mafia. One of these mill owners, he said, was a government minister.

Besides he said the government purchased only one tenth of the amount they clamed to have purchased. He therefore alleged that most of the produce was rejected by the Paddy Marketing Board frequently labeling the stocks as of low quality.