By Ranjith Rajapakse and Shelton Hettiarachchi   

Nuwara Eliya Economic Centre which had been closed on Sunday (21) due to the collapse of vegetable supplies and to support the farmer organisations’ protest reopened yesterday.  

President of the All Island Economic Centre Collective Aruna Shantha Hettiarachchi told the media that stocks of vegetables received yesterday were minimum and that the wholesale prices of vegetables had increased by 20 percent.  

He warned that the Economic Centres all over the country would face the threat of closure due to the breakdown of supplies, unless the government showed a quick response to the farmers’ protest on the previous day.  
Aruna Shantha further said the farmers would rely on the recent statement of the secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture that the import of fertiliser would be regularised. He pointed out that the farmers would trust this official’s statement rather than those of politicians.