The Hon. Hesha Withanage Ankumbura Arachchi
Hon. Hesha Withanage Ankumbura Arachchi questioned whether Dedicated Economic Centres have fulfilled their intended role in practice, noting that farmers face transport losses and unfair prices while intermediaries capture large margins between farm-gate and urban retail prices. He asked whether the relevant Cabinet paper includes measures to ensure fair producer prices, reduce post-harvest losses, improve logistics, protect consumers, and properly regularize Centres in major farming areas.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Minister, thank you for the answer. While the purposes are clear, practically the DECs have not functioned to achieve them over time. Small producers bring their produce to these Centres, yet due to transport losses and intermediaries, farmers do not receive fair prices; e.g., if a kilo of carrots is Rs. 200 at Keppetipola, it becomes Rs. 700 in Colombo, with the margin captured by middlemen. Has the Cabinet paper addressed mechanisms to ensure fair prices to farmers, reduce post-harvest losses, improve logistics, and protect consumers, especially by properly regularizing Centres in majority farming areas?
Provenance
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- Hansard, Friday, 6 June 2025 ·No. 1750753418078417 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Hesha Withanage Ankumbura Arachchi. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 6 June 2025. No. 1750753418078417. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/28171