Unlimited funds to buy stocks of paddy

Nimal WIJESINGHE- Anuradhapura additional district group corr

The zonal officials of the Paddy Marketing Board and the co-operatives have been instructed to buy as much paddy from farmers this season, since unlimited funds are available, depending on the purchase rate Anuradhapura District Secretary Mahinda Senevirate said.

He said that in the Mannar district, around 105,000 hectares of land were cultivated with paddy and a harvest of 450,000 metric tons was expected.

It is learnt that inadequate storage facilities have hampered the government sector maha season paddy purchasing programme though districts such as Anuradhapura, Mannar, Vavuniya, Mulaithivu, and Kilinochchi come under the PMB's Anuradhapura zonal authority.

Reports indicate that sans sufficient and systematic warehouse accommodation in Mannar, Kilinochchi and Mulaithivu farmers were forced to sell their paddy harvest at lower prices than the government guaranteed price to private sector paddy purchasers.

It is also learnt that though a new paddy storage complex was commissioned recently consisting of warehouse facilities for around 40,000 metric tons, the distance, heavy transport charges and above all the tough marketing criteria of the PMB have added to paddy collection being low.

In the Mannar district during the current maha season farmers cultivated paddy in nearly 20,000 hectares after a pause of about two decades due to LTTE terrorism and the war.

The Anuradhapura PMB Zonal Manager Bandula Kumara said that PMB aimed to buy 30,000 metric tons of paddy from Anuradhapura district alone during this maha season. He said further that the major difficulty being confronted in the paddy purchasing mechanism of the PMB was the shortage of storage facilities in Mannar, Mulaithivu and Kilinochchi for paddy stocks.

A survey done by the Daily News reveals that in view of the impending new year festive season farmers are compelled to sell their paddy at Rs 18 to 22 per kilo to private dealers who buy the stuff without any discrimination or grouping it.

Several farmer organization representatives pointed out to the Daily News that they were at a disadvantage in selling paddy even at the guaranteed prices of Rs 28 for nadu and Rs 32 for samba per kilogram due to the increasing production cost. The marginal profit was not at all sufficient for livelihood empowerment, was their grievance.

The special committee appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to inquire in to the actual paddy processing cost, recently met farmers in the Anuradhapura district and exchanged information and views.