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Closed granaries leave farmers in despair
Protests by the paddy farmers continued this week as most government paddy stores remained closed to new paddy purchases with stocks from the last season yet to be cleared.
Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) Chairman M.B. Dissanayake confirmed that previous harvests still remain in the stores but said the PMB has started purchasing paddy from farmers at Kilinochchi and Ampara.
He said to make space for the new harvest the stored paddy was being sold to millers and at Rs. 32.50 a kilo, resulting in a 17 per cent loss.
The Board has planned to purchase paddy in 19 districts.
A proposal made by Minister of Rural Economic Affairs P. Harrison to purchase paddy directly from farmers with the co-operation of District Secretaries and Government Agents was approved by Cabinet this week.
The government will buy keeri samba at Rs. 50 a kilo, samba at Rs. 41 a kilo and nadu for Rs. 38 a kilo at a maximum of 2000kg per farmer. Mr. Dissanayake said large-scale paddy dealers are buying paddy for lower prices of Rs. 10-17 per kilo.
All-Island Farmers Federation (AIFF) National Organiser Namal Karunaratne said farmers were facing difficulties because of the very slow start to government paddy purchases.
Mr. Karunaratne said farmers had held protests at Dehiattakandiya and Anuradhapura and were taking to the streets at Rajanganaya, Wilagmuwa, Hettipola and Dambulla until they reach Polonnaruwa this coming Tuesday.
He said farmers will hold a massive protest parade in Colombo if their problems were not resolved.
The AIFF leader said leading rice mill owners were buying a kilo of paddy for Rs. 14-15 a kilo and that these low prices were due to the government selling stored paddy for only Rs. 32.50.
Farmers in the Ampara district, from where the bulk of the paddy production comes, say they are unable to sell their paddy.
About 83,000 hectares of paddy are cultivated in Ampara over the Yala and Maha seasons with water supplied from the Inginiyagala Tank built by D.S. Senanayake and the Ambalan Oya at Pannalgama, Namal Oya, Ekgal Oya in Ampara and Nawagirigama from the Mahweli Scheme.
This season, a harvest of 325,000 metric tonnes is expected from Ampara.
It is now a few months since harvesting began and farmers find the government is not organised to buy their paddy, leaving it open to private merchants to buy stocks at Rs 20 a kilo.
V. Gnanasurian
These comments are from a variety of local leaders that show the depth of concern at the farmers’ plight:
President of the Farmers’ Committee at Thirukkovil, V. Gnanasurian: “The farmers are feeling very helpless. Last time, we sold paddy at Rs. 45 a kilo to the Paddy Marketing Board but this season we have to sell to the outsiders at Rs.20 a kilo because all the granaries are full.
We’ll have to decide whether we should cultivate in the next season. We have to go begging to sell our paddy and we get only Rs. 20 a kilo. We spend a lot on pesticides and fertiliser. It is no use growing paddy like this.”
President of the Joint Farmers Organisation, Northern Bund-Gal Oya, P.P. Jayasena:
“Because the government has only partly begun the process of buying paddy, farmers are in extreme difficulties. At the moment there are 112 stores in the Ampara District.
None of these have been emptied although the farmers have begun harvesting. The government should have thought of this before the paddy ripened in the fields. Never before in history has such a thing happened. As leaders, we will go on the streets with the farmers.”
President of Thirukkovil Committee, K. Anandaraja: “In the past two seasons we benefited from increased prices. Now we sell our paddy at a much lower price. The private sector pays only Rs. 25, less than the previous season.
Today we don’t even get back the money we spent on cultivation. In order to make the farmers engage in cultivation again the government should start giving us seed paddy.”
P.P. Jayasena
Incumbent of the Sri Pushmaramaya Uhana Kumaragama, Venerable Senapathiye Ananda Thera: “Because of the government’s harsh policies the farmer is in trouble. It is these farmers who give us alms. They assist us in everything. When something unjust is done to them we can’t remain with our hands folded. As the Maha Sangha, we should rise to the occasion.”
MP for Digamadulla, Wimalaweera Disanayake: “There are 112 stores in the Ampara district and of these, only 12 are open. At this point, the government has bought only 1.8 Mn kilos of paddy.
It means the government has bought paddy only from 900 farmers. No one has been given money although the Minister claimss they have been paid. It is this government that has dragged the farmer out onto the streets in protest.”
Government Agent Ampara, Thusitha P. Wanigasinghe: “We are taking steps to buy paddy in the Ampara district. We have already opened a few granaries. We will soon pay money for the purchased paddy. This season we are going to buy 32,000 tonnes of paddy.”
A closed paddy warehouse
K. Anandaraja
Ven. Senapathiye Ananda Thera
Wimalaweera Disanayake
Thusitha P. Wanigasinghe
(Additional reporting by Wasantha Chadrapala)