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Farmers
fear good crop means lower prices In
Mahawa and Ambanpola areas local buyers and those from outside the
district were getting ready to buy the produce from the farmers.
The only hope of the farmer was to see that his efforts are rewarded
in hard cash. This
time labour charges were high with Rs. 250 per day for female workers
for reaping while a male charged Rs. 350 per day. I did not benefit
from the subsidy but had to buy the fertiliser at cost”. He said he sold paddy this time at Rs. 11.50 per kilo which is very low going by the expenses incurred. He had bought fertilizer at Rs. 850 per bag and another variety at Rs. 1180 per bag so that he had to sell at Rs. 12 per kilo to make a minimum profit. N.C.Jayasuriya
of Ambanpola had this to say. “ I sold nadu to the private
sector at Rs. 14 per kilo last time but this time the harvest is
better but paddy is sold at Rs. 11 or Rs. 11.50 per kilo which is
not enough. The labour charges are high this time. The State must
buy paddy at least at Rs. 19 per kilo. I fear that due to the bumper
harvest it might fetch as low as Rs. 8 per kilo. This happened the
last time and we had to sell paddy at a low price as we cannot keep
the paddy at home. When the supply increases the price goes down.
The State must intervene and buy the paddy as the harvest is good
this time. K. Bandaranaike of Ambakolawewa said that hopes of fetching high prices have been dashed as the islandwide bumper harvest may bring down prices to as low as Rs. 8 per kilo. He said he had a bad experience in the past. He had bought a stock of paddy worth Rs. 200,000 with a bank loan to add to his harvest, but prices did not go up as expected. To settle the bank loan he had to sell at a low price and suffer a loss. He attributed his loss to a manipulation of market prices. “Buyers have not turned up yet. The Government has not yet fixed the price of paddy and if it has the interests of the farmer at heart something must be done. We are not satisfied with the State buying procedures so selling paddy to outsiders can fetch a better price” he said. Minister
assures bakery owners Mr. Fernandopulle told The Sunday Times that measures were being taken to prevent bakery owners from increasing the price of bread. The government took the decision to impose a tax on flour to protect the paddy farmers who were experiencing a bumper harvest – a result of improved weather conditions and the availability of fertilizer at cheaper prices. The
government has said it would spend more than Rs. 4 billion for the
fertilizer subsidy while Rs. 700 million has been allocated to purchase
paddy. Last
year’s stock still in stores Puttalam Divisional Secretary H.M Herath held a meeting with local farmers to discuss the situation. At this meeting most of the farmers said the subsidy they got from the Government was insufficient and they wanted the Government to purchase their produce. In 2004 the Puttalam district had surplus of 1500 metric tonnes of paddy which increased to 2000 metric tonnes in 2005. How
much will the State buy? “We have not yet decided on the extent of purchase from the upcoming harvest. Usually the Government purchases 10% of the total harvest, so that we have a control over prices. The rest of the harvest will be bought by the private sector. However, we bought 11% of the total harvest last year, which was the highest percentage the Government had purchased over the last five years,” Agriculture Ministry Secretary T.M Abeywickrema said. This
year the Government has allocated Rs. 700 million for the purchase
of paddy. With the Government’s decision to subsidise the
price of fertilizer harvests are expected to be high in many paddy
producing districts Batticaloa Additional District Secretary K Mahesan said, “We purchased 125,000 metric tonnes from the last Maha harvest and this time we are expecting to purchase 175,000 metric tonnes.” Ampara Deputy Director of Agriculture Dayaratne said, “Last season we purchased 250,000 metric tonnes of paddy but this season we expect it to be 300,000 metric tonnes.” However, the large harvest has brought the price of rice down and as a result the farmers have not profited by it. Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle said the increased tax on flour would discourage the people to buy flour products though the price of bread would not increase. “We are not telling the people to eat rice all the time. But rice prices have gone down and they could get rice at a cheaper price” he said. “The mill owners complained they couldn’t store the paddy, so we told them to turn the paddy into rice and give it to us. We are planning to purchase 125,000 metric tonnes of rice and keep it in our stores,” he said. |
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