News
Kilo of rice might hit Rs 500, says farmers’ association leader
By Sujeewa Tathsara and Aruna Bogahwatte
The price of a kilo of rice would exceed Rs 500 mark soon, National Organiser of the All Ceylon Agrarian Federation, Namal Karunaratne, told The Island yesterday.
Karunarante said that paddy cultivation during the current Maha season had suffered huge blows and it would inevitably result in massive decreases in the harvest.
“Currently the price of a kilo of rice varies but the average is between Rs 140 and 165. With a drop in the paddy yield, this will hit the Rs 500 mark sooner than expected. Some farmers who had fertiliser started cultivation but their cultivations would not yield a harvest that is sufficient to meet the market requirements,” Karunaratne said.
Karunaratne said that most farmers had invested between Rs 10,000 to 15,000 per acre of paddy cultivation. The government had promised to compensate for cultivation losses. The amount the government is going to pay is between Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000. Most farmers are not ready to accept that amount, Karunaratne said.
Meanwhile, the United Paddy Farmers’ Association of Anuradhapura, Matale and Polonnaruwa Districts yesterday said that if the government failed to give them the required chemical fertiliser for the Maha season they would not sell their paddy harvest to the Paddy Marketing Board.
The Paddy Marketing Board has approximately 115,000 metric tonnes of paddy stocks purchased from farmers, which are currently stored in the Board’s warehouses, and it has been planned to retain a sufficient buffer stock from these reserves and sell the remaining quantity in order to provide the necessary storage space and financial resources for the purchase of paddy from farmers during the upcoming Yala season.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation to sell the aforementioned paddy stocks
following a formal tender procedure.
The Promotion of Export Agriculture Act, No. 46 of 1992 provides the legal provisions for regulating and promoting the export agriculture sector in this country.
Taking into consideration administrative changes and sectoral developments that have taken place over time, approval was granted at the Cabinet Meetings held on 2023-09-04 and 2025-08-11 to amend the said Act, which has not been updated for over 30 years.
The proposed amendments are intended to amend the designations of the Head of the Department of Export Agriculture and other officials, and to provide a clearer definition of the term “the export agricultural crop.”
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation to publish in the Government Gazette the Draft Export Agriculture Promotion (Amendment) Bill, prepared in all three languages by the Legal Draftsman to amend the Export Agriculture Promotion Act, No. 46 of 1992, and thereafter submit the same to Parliament for its concurrence
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