The Hon. Namal Karunaratne
Hon. Namal Karunaratne stated that paddy purchases would not be handled solely by the Paddy Marketing Board, but also by Sathosa, the Co-operative Department and other institutions, so financing should not be a constraint. He reiterated support for a fair pricing formula based on production cost plus 30 per cent, citing the earlier Rs. 130 demand when production cost was Rs. 99.75. He said farmer fairness would be balanced with the Trade Ministry’s responsibility to protect consumers.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Purchases will not be by PMB alone—Sathosa, the Co-operative Department, and others will also buy, so funding will not be an issue. Yes, we fought for a fair price formula—production cost plus 30%—which led to the 130-rupee demand previously when production cost was 99.75 rupees. We remain committed to fairness for farmers while the Trade Ministry ensures consumer protection.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Wednesday, 8 January 2025 ·No. 1737023464031571 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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/lk/speeches/27577
Cite as: The Hon. Namal Karunaratne. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 8 January 2025. No. 1737023464031571. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/27577