The Paddy Marketing Board has already purchased more than 50,000 Metric Tons of paddy, said Agriculture, Rural Economic Affairs, Livestock Development, Irrigation and Fisheries Minister P. Harrison.
Accordingly the PMB has purchased of 8751 MTs of Nadu and 2703 Mts of Samba paddy from Ampara, 7174 MTs from Anuradhapura, 8542 MTs from Hambantota, 2857 MTs from Mullaitivu, 2634 MTs from Vavuniya and 2620 MTs from Killinochchi district.
He further said that the largest stock of paddy had been purchased from Ampara district.
“The PMB has provided facilities for farmers to sell their harvest at the certified price of Rs 41 per a kilo of Samba and Rs 38 per a kilo of Nadu via 200 paddy storage warehouses. But farmers used to sell their produce to the rice mill owners soon after harvesting.” he added.
He further said that the government has already allocated Rs 5000 million for this purpose.