The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the answers to the questions raised by Hon. Susantha Kumara Nawarathna are as follows.

¶ 02 1. Guaranteed prices for 2025/2026 Maha: - Nadu paddy (per kg): Rs. 120 - Samba paddy (per kg): Rs. 130 - Keeri Samba paddy (per kg): Rs. 140 2. Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) stores have been opened for purchasing. A concessionary price has been fixed, and standards have been set for procurement. Facilities have been provided to deliver paddy meeting the standards to PMB stores. 3. Rs. 10,000 million. 4. The number of purchasing centres is submitted by annex. 5. Steps include: - Measures to raise milled rice prices commensurate with PMB procurement of Samba/Keeri Samba. - Under the PMB warehouse rehabilitation programme, storage capacity has been increased to 250,000 metric tons. Along with the increased capacity, allocations for purchasing will be increased accordingly.

¶ 03 Additionally, last season Keeri Samba was purchased at Rs. 132 per kg, and this season at Rs. 140 per kg; Samba increased from Rs. 125 to Rs. 130; thus, Keeri Samba price per bushel increases by Rs. 60 for farmers. Government stores are open; farmers are keen to deliver paddy. Over 13,000 metric tons have already been delivered to stores, and many samples have been submitted.

¶ 04 Regarding the supplementary, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock will respond.