The government has allocated Rs.11 billion to provide financial subsidies to 550,000 farmers who cultivate paddy in the Yala Season to buy fertilizer.
Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said the government’s attention has focused on providing a financial subsidy for the purchase of fertilizer for farmers who are cultivating paddy this Yala Season.
This subsidy is to be given especially with the aim of reducing production costs of the farmers. Minister Amaraweera said President Ranil Wickremesinghe as Finance Minister has decided to provide Rs.20,000 for one hectare of paddy cultivation and Rs.40,000 for two hectares.
The government has to spend Rs.11 billion for this subsidy.
About 550.000 farmers who cultivate paddy in the Yala season are entitled to this subsidy. The TSP fertilizer required for the Yala season has been given free of cost to the farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture has focused on reducing the price of a bundle of urea fertilizer for 10,000 rupees and reducing the price of a bundle of MOP fertilizer by 4,500 rupees from the current market price.
A Cabinet paper was also presented by the Mahinda Amaraweera, as per the instructions of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, regarding providing financial subsidy to the farmers who cultivate paddy in this year’s Yala season. Farmers can use this financial provision to buy the fertilizer they need. Ministry Secretary Gunadasa Samarasinghe said the Agriculture Ministry expects that the money will be used for the purchase of fertilizer by the farmers as it has been proposed to credit the money directly to the farmers’ accounts.