The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe - Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development
The Minister stated that announced paddy prices include Nadu at Rs. 1,208, Samba at Rs. 1,258 and Keeri Samba at Rs. 1,328 per 5 kg, with a possible Keeri Samba revision to be discussed with the Minister of Agriculture on the 25th. He said Keeri Samba shortages stem from demand exceeding production, some stock aggregation by large millers, and black-market activity, and that the Government is importing GR-11 and Ponni/Chiru Samba as substitutes. He added that Keeri Samba cultivation under the Yaya 500 programme must increase from about 35,000–37,000 hectares to at least 50,000 hectares per season, and that instructions have been given to expand cultivation in assured-water areas.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the Hon. Member’s concerns are fair. We have already announced paddy prices: Nadu (5 kg) Rs. 1,208; Samba (5 kg) Rs. 1,258; Keeri Samba (5 kg) Rs. 1,328. The Agriculture Ministry is discussing a revision for Keeri Samba in view of its Rs. 260/kg retail price; a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture is scheduled for the 25th.
¶ 02 On hiding stock in shops: the Keeri Samba harvest is about 3% short. Demand for Keeri substitutes about 9%, while production is only 6.5–7%, hence the gap. Large millers aggregating Keeri have contributed to black-market behavior. Our response is to import substitutes—GR-11 and Ponni/Chiru Samba—which are the closest equivalents.
¶ 03 Under the “Yaya 500” programme, in 2025 roughly 35,000–37,000 hectares per season were cultivated; to meet domestic Keeri demand, at least 50,000 hectares per season should be cultivated. Otherwise we face surpluses in other types and deficits in Keeri. Accordingly, under Yaya 500 and in major irrigation areas, farmers have been guided to expand Keeri Samba with assured water; the Agriculture Ministry’s attention has been drawn and necessary instructions given.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Thursday, 13 November 2025 ·No. 22816 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
- Page · column
- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
- Permalink
/lk/speeches/26977
Cite as: The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe - Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 13 November 2025. No. 22816. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/26977