The Hon. Namal Karunaratne - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock
Rs. 25,000 per hectare is being paid to farmers as a fertilizer subsidy, although the matter was raised outside the original question on farmers’ pensions. The Deputy Minister acknowledged delays in payments, said their causes had been identified, and stated that Rs. 2 billion had already been released with a further Rs. 1 billion due by Friday. He assured that all eligible farmers, including those cultivating more than the usual 800,000 hectares in the Maha season, would receive payments within the next few days and that delays would be addressed before the next season.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, though fertilizer subsidy is not directly linked to the original question on farmers’ pensions, as it is important I will answer. Currently, Rs. 25,000 per hectare is being paid to farmers for fertilizer. We accept there are delays; we are intervening. We have identified the causes and will remove them for the next season so that there won’t be delays. Rs. 2 billion has already been released for this, and by Friday a further Rs. 1 billion will be released. Many farmers have not yet received funds; within the next few days they will. Generally, around 800,000 hectares are cultivated in Maha; this time even more. Every farmer will receive Rs. 25,000 per hectare within the next few days. We will fully resolve these issues by the next season.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 17 December 2024 ·No. 1734685396083959 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Namal Karunaratne - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 17 December 2024. No. 1734685396083959. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/18126