The Hon. Gayantha Karunathilleka
The Member supported Hon. Rohana Bandara’s motion to introduce a farmer insurance scheme, noting that existing crop insurance and pension arrangements have low participation and limited coverage. He urged a comprehensive scheme covering crops, life, health and marketing risks for paddy, vegetable and other farmers, citing hazards such as lightning, snakebites, machinery injuries, leptospirosis, kidney disease and human-elephant conflict.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, as our saying goes, “The farmer who cleans the mud is fit to be king.” Our farmers are invaluable. We appreciate Hon. Rohana Bandara’s Motion to introduce an insurance scheme and we second it.
¶ 02 There are crop insurance and pension schemes, but participation in the farmer pension is very limited. Insurance must cover not only crops and life but also marketing risks. Farmers face lightning, snakebites, machine injuries, and diseases like leptospirosis, reported widely, including from the South. In Rajarata, many farmers suffer kidney disease. Human-elephant conflict is severe, with fatalities, often affecting farmers. When ill and bedridden, farmers are left destitute without insurance.
¶ 03 We urge attention to comprehensive insurance covering paddy, vegetable and all categories of farmers, and thank you for the opportunity to speak.
¶ 04 Question proposed.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Friday, 10 October 2025 ·No. 22640 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Gayantha Karunathilleka. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 10 October 2025. No. 22640. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/13992