The Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) has commenced purchasing paddy from August 17 under the first stage of the Government’s paddy purchasing program and Rs. 2,000 million has been allocated to purchase nearly 30,000 metric tons of paddy from farmers countrywide. The PMB purchases a kilo of Nadu paddy variety at Rs. 120, a kilo of Samba paddy at Rs. 125 and a kilo of Keeri Samba at Rs. 130, Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera told the Sunday Observer.
The PMB has reduced the prices of rice by Rs. 5. The Minister said that a buffer stock of rice will be maintained by the Government to face any shortage of rice in the future. There is no shortage of rice at present in the local market.
About 500,000 metric tons of rice was imported from January to July this year to meet the people’s needs, he added.