The Hon. Namal Karunaratne - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock
Deputy Minister Namal Karunaratne tabled a response detailing Rs. 23,015.5 million in loans and allocations obtained from banks, the Farmers’ Trust Fund and the Treasury for paddy-related activities from 2020 to 2025. For 2025, he stated that the Paddy Marketing Board expects to purchase 48,000 metric tons of paddy with Rs. 6,000 million allocated, while concessionary Treasury loans are available to small and medium mill owners. He said PMB stocks are partly kept as a buffer and partly milled and distributed through Lanka Sathosa and cooperatives, but there is no plan for a joint public-private integrated purchase mechanism because the Government’s objective is to maintain buffer stocks and ensure fair prices for farmers.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I am answering this question on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation.
¶ 02 Answer tabled:
¶ 03 (a)
¶ 04 Year | Institution | Loan Amount (Rs. million) - 2020 | Bank of Ceylon | 3,390.0 - 2020 | People’s Bank | 1,840.0 - 2020 | Regional Development Bank | 50.0 - 2021 | Bank of Ceylon | 2,500.0 - 2021 | People’s Bank | 1,500.0 - 2022 | Bank of Ceylon | 6,500.0 - 2023 | Farmers’ Trust Fund | 250.0 - 2024 | Farmers’ Trust Fund | 100.0 - 2024 | Treasury (through the Line Ministry) | 577.0 - 2025 | Treasury (through the Line Ministry) | 6,308.5 Total: Rs. 23,015.5 million
¶ 05 (b)
¶ 06 (i) Quantity of paddy expected to be purchased in 2025: 48,000 metric tons (ii) Funds allocated: Rs. 6,000 million (iii) Yes. The Treasury provides concessionary interest loans to small and medium-scale mill owners for paddy purchases. (iv) Yes. Of the stocks purchased by the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB), a portion is maintained as a buffer stock and the remainder is milled through small and large mill owners and released to the market via Lanka Sathosa and the cooperative network under an established mechanism. (v) No. The Government’s objective in purchasing paddy is to build a secure buffer stock and ensure a fair price for farmers. As the PMB procures adequate stocks and regulates aggregation to fulfill these objectives, there is no plan to implement an integrated purchase mechanism jointly with the private sector.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Friday, 5 December 2025 ·No. 23059 ·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, 5 December 2025. No. 23059. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/23419