Rs. 100,000/- fine on traders selling rice at high prices - Agriculture Minister

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka has decided to slap a Rs. 100,000/- fine on traders who sell rice at exorbitant prices.

Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told reporters on Wednesday (30) said that Sri Lanka has sufficient stocks of rice for a period of 06 months from August 2021.

'We already have stocks from the previous harvest season which will last for another month and a half,' he said while noting that there will no rice shortage in the country.

The government will purchase a kilogram of Nadu Rice from a farmer for Rs. 50/- , Samba for Rs. 52/- and Rs. 44/- for moistured paddy.

Paddy will be purchased from farmers by all rice mills owned by the paddy marketing board with effect from Thursday (01), he told reporters, noting that payments will be made to the farmers at the mill.

He said the chemical fertilizer industry in Sri Lanka is a Rs. 100 billion industry and the decision to move towards organic fertilizer will not be reversed while adding there is a 05% fertilizer shortage in the country.