President meets small and medium-scale rice mill owners

A meeting was held between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and small and medium-scale rice mill owners this morning (11) at the Presidential Secretariat regarding obtaining the contribution of small and medium-scale businessmen to provide a stable price for paddy and to ensure the purchase of paddy from farmers at a fair price.

Informing the President regarding the issues that arose when operating within the sector, they briefed the President on the difficulties faced in dealing with banks within the overdraft loan system and the issues in purchasing paddy.

Proposing that a programme be prepared to provide allocations through District Secretaries or Divisional Secretaries to purchase paddy, they pointed out that they possess adequate capacity to purchase paddy, and that it is a good opportunity to provide a stable price to farmers and ensure a fair price for consumers.

A programme to provide a loan to small and medium-scale businessmen through District Secretaries to purchase paddy will be discussed with District Secretaries, Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Co-operative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe stated.

Accordingly, the Minister mentioned that paddy must be purchased from farmers under a minimum price of 120 rupees per kilogramme, the maximum quantity of paddy that can be purchased from one farmer must be 4,000 kilogrammes per hectare, maintaining accurate records regarding the purchased paddy stocks and the relevant farmers is mandatory, and those reports will be inspected constantly.

It was mentioned that this loan scheme is expected to be implemented for currently registered small and medium-scale mill owners; the relevant money must be repaid to the government after selling the rice, and the government expects to provide such relief in upcoming seasons as well to mill owners who complete this project.

Support from all small and medium-scale businessmen is expected to make this programme successful, and it was emphasised that this must be considered and carried out as a responsible task performed for the food security of the country.

Furthermore, officials of the Ministry of Finance clarified facts regarding the issues that arose due to the non-repayment of loans in such programmes implemented previously.

Expressing confidence, the rice mill owners, who praised the introduction of a loan scheme to purchase paddy on the instructions of the President whereas a system operated previously where paddy was purchased after the government provided loans and that paddy had to be repurchased by the government, stated that if this system continues to operate, a large number of small and medium-scale rice mill owners who currently stepped away from the business can return to the sector and it will be possible to provide a fair price for paddy.

Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation K.D. Lallkantha, Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Co-operative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma, Chairman of the Paddy Marketing Board Manjula Pinnalanda, officials of the Ministry of Finance, and small and medium-scale rice mill owners participated in the event.