Most economic centres in chaos, vegetables remain unsold, farmers in trouble

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Many issues have arisen causing great inconveniences to farmers and vendors although all Economic centres were open yesterday for wholesale trade.

Farmers who took their produce to the Dambulla Economic centre said that they had to wait for more than six hours to enter the place.

“Some people had even come on Wednesday night. There was a big queue outside the centre and it was a mess. There is no system here and it’s impossible to follow health guidelines. The government will only create super spreader events by doing things in an ad hoc manner,” a farmer said.

Mobile vendors who arrived at the Welisara Economic centre were turned back because they didn’t have permits. To enter economic centres one should have a letter signed by the Grama Sevaka and the Divisional Secretary, the Police said.

A representative of the Welisara Economic centre traders association said that new passes had not been issued during the current lockdown. Mobile sellers had been told that their old passes were valid, but the police refused to allow them to enter the centre.

There has also been a drop in the number of vendors coming to the Manning Market from outstation, Anil Indrajith, organizer of the Manning Market traders’ association told the media. “A lot of farmers have sent their produce but there are only a few buyers. If this trend continues on Friday (10) a large quantity of vegetables will be wasted. The government must do something about this. The farmers and the consumer will be in trouble. In most parts of the country, the prices of vegetables have increased but the farmers can’t sell them at the Economic centres,” he said.

The same situation prevailed in the Thambuttegama Economic centre and the farmers had to sell their produce at an extremely low rate, they said.