Agriculture Minister pledges to cultivate 70 acres of abandoned paddy lands this season

BY CYRIL WIMALASURENDRE

KANDY

– Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said at Gannoruwa last Friday (06 ) that all paddy-lands abandoned during the last several years would be re-cultivated.

Addressing a group of people’s representatives and agriculture sector officials, Aluthgamage said that the highest number of applications for filling paddy lands had been received from the Kandy district.

The minister said that at least 50 acres of abandoned cultivable wet lands in the Kandy District would be cultivated with paddy.

The minister said that vast extents of cultivable paddy fields had been filled for construction purposes.

Farmers were provided with all facilities by the government under the patronage of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The ambition of the two leaders was to ensure self-sufficiency in food. Fertiliser was given to the farmer and bank loans were extended up to Rs.40,000 per acre. Steps would be taken to have a buffer stock of 300,000 kilos of paddy to avoid shortage of paddy and to meet any demand in an emergency, he said.

The Minister warned that the government would get tough with the traders who sold rice above the controlled prices.

“The millers purchase the paddy from the farmers at Rs. 50.000 a kilogram. The government will remain alert to ensure the traders keep the controlled price of rice from Monday.

Chairman of the Kandy District Development Committee Samantha Yampa Bandera MP was also present.