The Hon. K.D. Lal Kantha — Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation
The Minister said the Government intervenes in paddy purchasing through the Paddy Marketing Board and acknowledged that the PMB has not operated at the required scale. He noted that for the 2024–2025 Maha season the PMB began operations but was not able to undertake a large-scale role, and referred to the ongoing 2025 Yala season in the context of current paddy purchasing arrangements.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to present facts on fertiliser, production costs and other farmer issues. Many MPs from agricultural districts wish to speak, so I will be brief and focus on the specific points in the Motion, as the broader national agriculture development is a separate debate.
¶ 02 The Government intervenes in paddy purchasing in two ways. One is through the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB). It is true the PMB has not engaged at the scale required. For the 2024–2025 Maha season, the PMB commenced operations but did not have the opportunity to perform a massive task. For the ongoing 2025 Yala season, which is now concluding…
¶ 03 [Proceedings continue.]
Provenance
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- Hansard, Wednesday, 10 September 2025 ·No. 1758017450079419 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. K.D. Lal Kantha — Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 10 September 2025. No. 1758017450079419. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/10766