The Hon. Upali Samarasingha
Upali Samarasingha said domestic production shortfalls must be addressed through imports where necessary, while protecting farmers and ensuring consumers receive quality goods at fair prices. He noted that domestic supply had fallen from about 50% in 2019 to around 20% over the past four to five years, attributing the decline to administrative failures, and emphasized the need to manage the situation as the March harvest begins.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 There is no dispute. Our aim is to move forward understanding the past. If we cannot produce the full requirement domestically, we must import to bridge the gap, while protecting farmers and ensuring consumers get quality at fair prices. In 2019 we could meet about 50% domestically; in the last 4–5 years, due to administrative failures, production fell to about 20%. We have a responsibility now — particularly as this March harvest begins — to balance these objectives.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Friday, 14 March 2025 ·No. 1744281136023320 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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/lk/speeches/26546
Cite as: The Hon. Upali Samarasingha. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 14 March 2025. No. 1744281136023320. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/26546