Plight of paddy farmers: No solution in sight

PMB having defaulted on previous loans make banks wary of lending it more

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Amidst protests against the government’s failure to purchase paddy, a meeting called by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the Parliament yesterday (21) to resolve the crisis ended inconclusively.

Among those present at the meeting chaired by Premier Gunawardena were State Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya and Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, who recently alleged state banks were yet to provide the funds required for the purchase of paddy stocks.

Sources said that the government was not in a position to compete with the private sector. The top management of state sector banks had indicated their inability to intervene, sources said, adding that the whole exercise seemed to be in limbo.

Agriculture Minister Amaraweera said that this would be taken up at the Cabinet level. Other sources said that the banks were reluctant to loan money to the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) as the state enterprise owed them massive sums of money from previous borrowings. Sources said that Minister Amaraweera’s bid to secure the Treasury’s intervention in this regard, too, has so far failed.

Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) lawmaker Rohini Kaviratne said that the government action was meant to discourage the farmers. Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ruined the agriculture by depriving farmers of fertilizer and agro-chemicals. The MP said that in spite such obstacles, farmers had cultivated substantial acreage but the incumbent government was yet to start buying paddy. “Debt ridden farmers are now at the mercy of private traders,” lawmaker Kaviratne said.

Responding to another query, the Matale District MP said that the crisis could have quite a serious impact on the next paddy season.