The Hon. Nalin Bandara Jayamaha

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, thank you for the opportunity to speak on this important Adjournment Motion by Hon. Rohana Bandara. Paddy purchasing this season is largely over. The Government failed to ensure a fair price for farmers; the controlled price applied only on paper. The PMB procurement mechanism failed—if it had worked, hundreds of thousands of metric tons should have reached Government stores. At the start, you publicized cleaned PMB stores and promised to mill PMB stocks and deliver rice at low prices to consumers—this was the “solution” pitched during your campaign. Where is that solution?

¶ 02 If PMB procurement had succeeded, far more paddy would be in stores. I state that current PMB stocks are insufficient even for two days’ national requirement of rice. A bigger problem: Samba cultivation was lower last season. You must plan the required proportions of Naadu, Samba, and Keeri Samba. Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe, urgently import Samba; otherwise, prices will surpass Rs. 300 per kg soon; Keeri Samba is already around Rs. 340. You have not done the necessary assessment.

¶ 03 You promised to empower small and medium millers by allocating PMB stocks for custom milling. Yet in practice, a politically-connected large operator—an associate of a former “B.R.”—received the milling allocation, not the small and medium millers who had geared up. This undermined the expected solution.

¶ 04 On sugarcane at Sevanagala: around 13,000 MT equivalent area has been burnt. Whether accidental or arson, farmers are not the ones setting fires. Burning has occurred annually since 2018. In 2022, over 33,000 MT were burnt but then purchased and cleared, protecting farmers. A past private operator even bought burnt cane to protect growers. Why cannot the present Government do the same? Establish an immediate mechanism to purchase and process burnt cane so farmers can prepare for the next season. Punish any arsonists, but safeguard cane farmers now.