The Hon. Susantha Kumara Nawarathna

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, I am pleased to speak during this discussion on regulations under the Import and Export (Control) Act.

¶ 02 An earlier Member spoke, and it is clear that while the President and our Government are managing the present crisis competently, there are those pained when the President wins the hearts of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people—as he did yesterday in Batticaloa, reopening libraries, healing past divisions. Those linked to parties that once burned libraries are hurt when we open them. We understand their pain.

¶ 03 Let me turn to substance. This weak Opposition keeps spreading falsehoods across the country, attempting to manufacture a crisis among farmers. As a Government, recognizing the Middle East conflict’s impact and looking ahead, our President and Cabinet moved decisively to resolve the fertilizer issue. Under the leadership of the Agriculture Minister, the State Minister and the Secretary, we convened the relevant officials and fertilizer companies and, for the first time, decided to supply Urea at Rs. 10,200 per metric ton, including transport, through the Department of Agrarian Development to 65 percent of farmers, to manage this crisis.

¶ 04 We have consolidated district-wise requirements. As of now, 48,299 metric tons have been requested through the Agrarian Development Department. To meet this, the Rajarata Fertilizer Company has released 12,930 metric tons; private fertilizer companies have supplied 33,124 metric tons against our requests. The Opposition keeps trying to drag people to the streets shouting “fertilizer, fertilizer”. We do not deny there are issues, but we are managing them.

¶ 05 Urea is being supplied proportionate to cultivated area. Due to recent weather changes, some fallow paddy under certain tanks has been brought back into cultivation; based on cultivation meetings and priority, fertilizer has been issued through Agrarian Service Centres in districts like Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Ampara, Hambantota and Puttalam. The requested and supplied quantities by district are with me.

¶ 06 As 48,000 metric tons are insufficient for this Yala season, the Cabinet on the 18th approved purchase by the Government from private firms of an additional 15,000 metric tons to be supplied through Agrarian Service Centres at Rs. 10,200. Therefore, we ask the Opposition to stop spreading lies. We are coordinating supply—65 percent via Agrarian Service Centres and 35 percent via private companies.

¶ 07 Regarding rice, approval had been given to import Ponni Samba and Kiri Samba, but now that has been halted. We assure the House that over 150,000 metric tons of paddy are with the Paddy Marketing Board. However, Kiri Samba is not among those stocks in sufficient quantity; therefore, imports were allowed to meet that specific need. We have now paused further import quantities. The Agriculture Ministry, Trade Ministry and the Marketing Board are working together to distribute existing PMB stocks via the Ministry of Cooperative Development, Cooperative Wholesale Establishment and Cooperative Department outlets at concessionary prices to the public.

¶ 08 Given the wider Middle East crisis, we are managing not only fertilizer but all issues competently. In view of rising fuel prices, we have increased the Yala season fertilizer subsidy from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 30,000 per hectare—doubling from Rs. 15,000 in 2024 to Rs. 30,000 now. Thus, the effective fertilizer cost borne by farmers reduces to around Rs. 9,000 per metric ton when factoring overall per-hectare costs.

¶ 09 Some shout that paddy has no price. When this Government took office, the controlled price per 8 kg was Rs. 105 under President Ranil Wickremesinghe; we raised it to Rs. 120 and have since stabilized farmgate prices around Rs. 104–105 per kilogram, increasing by about Rs. 20 and providing a more stable environment. We acknowledge more may be needed, but globally and locally we are managing the situation with competence.

¶ 10 We will continue to take maximum measures to provide necessary facilities to farmers and all our people. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees.