The government is committed to uplifting the lives of the farming community and ensuring national food security – Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation, Mr. K.D. Lal Kantha, stated at a special farmers’ meeting held in Anuradhapura.
A special farmers’ meeting, organized to inform farmers about the upcoming programs of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation and to gather their views and suggestions, was successfully held yesterday (28th) at the Anuradhapura Provincial Management Development Auditorium. This program, attended by a large gathering of farmers, is scheduled to be continued across the island in the future as well.
Addressing this meeting, the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation stated that the primary responsibility of the Ministry is to improve the living standards of the farming community and to ensure food security for the entire country.
Breaking the silence of the assembly and engaging in close dialogue with the farmers, the Minister praised the farmers’ skill, taking as an example a farmer from the Thambuttegama area who achieves a yield of more than 200 bushels per acre.
Responding to the views expressed by farmers regarding the cost of cultivating one acre, the Minister pointed out that the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Development, Department of Agriculture, Institute of Post-Harvest Technology, and Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute have jointly prepared the latest cost report for the Yala season.
According to these reports:
Red Nadu: Cost per acre is Rs. 175,943 (Cost per kg of paddy is Rs. 76)
White Nadu: Cost per acre is Rs. 175,406 (Cost per kg of paddy is Rs. 87)
Samba: Cost per acre is Rs. 172,658 (Cost per kg of paddy is Rs. 97)
Keeri Samba: Cost per kg of paddy is Rs. 119
The Minister further stated that, in response to a long-standing request made by farmer organizations, the government has implemented a policy of setting a fair guaranteed price for the harvest by adding a 30 percent profit margin to the cost per kilogram of paddy. The government has also provided a fertilizer subsidy of Rs. 30,000 per hectare, and this cost calculation has been carried out taking that into account as well.
Pointing out that a large quantity of food items such as potatoes, big onions, wheat flour, rice and basmati still have to be imported from abroad, the Minister emphasized that, in order to prevent a food shortage from arising within the country, cultivation must be carried out according to a national plan.
He also stated that steps would be taken to generate additional income sources for the farming community in the area by developing “irrigation tourism” centered on the tank system of the Anuradhapura District.
The Minister, stating that we are currently passing through a transitional era and that working in such an era involves facing various challenges and criticisms, declared that he would not retreat out of fear of media or political pressures.
He pointed out that since the current government came into power, no privileges, including vehicle permits, have been granted to politicians or ministers, and that all state resources have been allocated for the welfare of the people. The Minister further stated that a number of people-friendly measures have already been taken, such as increasing the salaries of state employees, raising the fertilizer subsidy for farmers, providing equipment subsidies of Rs. 6,000 to schoolchildren, and purchasing paddy at a guaranteed price through the Paddy Marketing Board.
