The Hon. Chamara Sampath Dasanayake
Chamara Sampath Dasanayake argued that, given the current shortage of rice before the harvest, priority should be given to consumers while also recognizing farmers’ difficulties. He urged the Trade Minister not to rely solely on state entities such as the STC for imports, citing past delays, and said experienced private importers should have been used earlier. He asked the Government to ensure imported rice reaches consumers at controlled prices, while noting that farmers still lack confidence in support schemes and often sell to moneylenders.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, my question to the Trade Minister and earlier to the Agriculture Minister are connected. We must choose between the consumer and the farmer at this moment; currently, we must side with the consumer as there is no rice in the country until harvest. Therefore, Minister, I say this: when I was State Minister of Primary Industries during the economic crisis, we tasked the STC with importing explosives. It failed; even now STC struggles to find ships. If we had given imports earlier to experienced private players, rice would already be here. Do not fixate on the 15% tax now. I got a message that by yesterday afternoon 2.00 p.m., nadu 6,700 MT and kekulu 3,300 MT had arrived — but that is not the main point. Please ensure rice reaches people at the controlled prices. No matter the subsidy, farmers still lack trust and often sell to moneylenders. Both consumer and farmer issues exist.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Wednesday, 18 December 2024 ·No. 1735286612086554 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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/lk/speeches/12095
Cite as: The Hon. Chamara Sampath Dasanayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 18 December 2024. No. 1735286612086554. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/12095