March 12, 2010: An inquiry has commenced into the validity of the reports claiming that farmers have been forced to sell their Maha harvest at a lower price.
“Its officers have started visiting paddy purchasing areas to look into this matter,” said the Ministry of Agriculture Development.
“They have not received any information that farmers have been forced to sell paddy at a lower price. However, when farmers sell a kilogramme of paddy at Rs. 24 at the paddy field itself, it is lower than the price levels set by the government,” said S. Amarasekara, Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture.
“The reason is, when the Paddy Marketing Board purchased only the dried paddy, certain private individuals purchased paddy from the paddy field itself for Rs 24 pre kilo.
The government was purchasing Nadu paddy at Rs. 28 per kilogramme while it was purchasing Samba paddy at Rs. 30 per kilogramme.
Accordingly the purchasing centers of the Paddy Marketing Board are open throughout the week for this purpose.
