News
Agriculture Ministry urges govt. to halt rice imports
By Ifham Nizam
The Agriculture Ministry yesterday informed the Cabinet that there were enough rice stocks in the country, and rice imports had to be suspended.
Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that he requested the Cabinet to suspend the import of rice until December.
The Minister decided to make that request during a discussion with the Agricultural Seed and Planting Material Association yesterday.
The Yala paddy harvest was now being gathered, the minister said. “With the consent of the government to import rice, the country has imported enough rice,” an Agriculture Ministry official said.
During paddy harvesting in the Yala season, some rice mill owners were likely to exploit the situation and buy the paddy grown by local farmers at low prices, the Minister said.”
Minister Amaraweera said he had requested the government to use the amount of foreign exchange to be saved from the suspension of rice imports to purchase inputs for the development of agriculture such as weedicides, seeders, sprayers, tractors, solar powered water pumps, etc.
Amaraweera requested the seed importers to take steps to cultivate 60,000 hectares of maize in the country in the coming Maha season.
Meanwhile, representatives of the Agricultural Seed Association said that arrangements had already been made for the import of seeds needed for potato, chilli and vegetable cultivation, and that their Association would mediate for the agricultural products needed by the country.
Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture Rohana Pushpakumara, and others, participated in the discussion.
Accepting deposits from political parties and independent groups who intend to contest the forthcoming Local Authorities Election ended at 12noon today [19].
Deposits were accepted at respective District Secretariats from 3rd March 2025.
The Elections Commission has announced that the deadline for the accepting of nominations for the LA poll is set to conclude at 12:00 noon tomorrow (20).
It has been reported that the former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon has appeared before the Matara Magistrate’s Court this morning (19),
The former IGP had been evading arrest after the Matara Magistrate’s court had ordered his arrest regarding a shooting incident that took place in front of the W15 Hotel Pelena, Weligama, Matara, in 2023.
The government has begun recovering funds obtained by former Lands and Land Development, Environment and Wildlife Resources Minister SM Chandrasena for the Janatha Lanka Chilli Marketing Limited (JLCML), which he headed, Parliament was informed yesterday.
Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation Minister Namal Karunaratne said that as the Chairman of JLCML, Chandrasena had obtained a loan of Rs. 1,275,000 from the Mihintale Govijana Seva Bank in 2001.
The principal of the loan had not been repaid until the end of last year. “After we came to power, we demanded that the loan be settled. Then, we discovered that the interest on the loan had not been paid for the past 24 years, and attempts had been made to have the loan written off. We stopped that and are now in the process of recovering the interest of Rs. 1,975,233 on the loan,” Karunaratne said.
Karunaratne added that JLCML was registered as a company with the Registrar of Companies on March 21, 2001. As Chairman of the company, Chandrasena requested a loan of Rs. 10 million on April 19, 2001, for the purpose of purchasing chillies from farmers in 12 farmer colonies in the Mihintale Agrarian Service area.
The request was approved by the Mihintale Agrarian Service Committee on the same day and referred to the Anuradhapura District Agrarian Operations Committee, which approved it on April 23, 2001. However, the Agriculture Development Commissioner General recommended that a loan of Rs. 1.2 million would suffice for this purpose. JLCML took the loan and failed to repay it until the end of last year. When the matter was raised, the principal was paid, and we are now in the process of recovering the interest that was not paid for the past 24 years,” Karunaratne added.
By Saman Indrajith
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