10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Suranga Rathnayaka

Samagi Jana Balawegaya· Anuradhapura· 23 September 2025 ·Oral question: Oral Question Q.7/2025: Maize Production and Pricing

Cost of LivingAgriculture
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Suranga Rathnayaka raised concerns that import permits issued during the previous harvest season depressed crop prices and harmed farmers. He questioned the Government’s guaranteed price of Rs. 135 per kg, arguing that the costing excludes family labour and does not reflect field conditions, and asked that it be reconsidered. He also highlighted distress among black gram farmers.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Minister, first supplementary:

¶ 02 The key is a fair price. During the last season, import permits were issued during harvest, causing severe problems and prices fell; many farmers suffered. You now state Rs. 135/kg as a guaranteed price, but your costing ignores family labour; effective profit is low. Also, using figures from AC rooms at HARTI does not reflect ground reality. Please reconsider. Secondly, black gram farmers are also in distress.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Tuesday, 23 September 2025 ·No. 1758876121024768 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Suranga Rathnayaka. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 23 September 2025. No. 1758876121024768. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/15537