PMB to purchase 300,000 tonnes of paddy

By Kelum Bandara   

The Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) will purchase 300,000 tonnes of paddy from the next harvest to stave off possible rice mafia, Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said.  

The Minister told Daily Mirror such a stock, once milled, would provide rice sufficed for one month. He said it would enable the government to prevail upon the market forces.  

“At the moment, we have only 20,000 tonnes. We are actually planning to buy ten percent of the Maha harvest at Rs. 50 a kilo. Farmers will receive fertilizer subsidy for two hectares of rice field each. Then, they will be bound to sell off a portion of their harvest to the Paddy Marketing Board,” he said.  

The Minister said private traders had monopolised the industry leaving both farmers and consumers in the lurch.  
“A third group of middlemen has also emerged now. They buy paddy from farmers and stock them. Later, they sell such stocks off to mill owners with a huge profit margin,” he said.