Big tax hike on big onions

The Finance Ministry said the special import tax on big onions has been doubled to Rs.30 per kg with effect from today from the current Rs. 15 per kg. This has been done to ensure good prices for local big onions currently reaching the market in large quantities.

Addressing a meeting of farmers recently, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka would stop big onion imports by 2015 when it becomes selfsufficient in big onions.

The meeting was held to set up a task force to make the country selfsufficient in potatoes, big onions and red onions. Mr. Rajapaksa said the self-sufficiency programme would save the country Rs. 6 billion in foreign exchange annually on importing 200,000 metric tons of big onions.

While noting that the country is already self-sufficient in rice, sorghum and ulundu, the minister stressed the need to encourage cultivators and motivate them to grow these essential food crops.

The self-sufficiency programme would save the country Rs. 6 billion in foreign exchange annually on importing 200,000 metric tons of big onions

Sri Lanka locally produces 40 percent of its annual potato requirement of 130,000 metric tons and imports the rest, while 93 percent of the red onions requirement is locally grown.

Since the end of the war in 2009 red onion cultivation had gone up sharply as it was mostly grown in the North and East. In the Trincomalee District 11,772 metric tons of red onions were grown on 981 hectares in 2012 whereas only 3,077 metric tons of red onions were grown on 280 hectares in the same district in 2006.

Mr. Rajapaksa urged all ministries to work towards making the country self-sufficient in rice, big onions, red onions and potatoes.