The Hon. Nishantha Jayaweera - Deputy Minister of Economic Development

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, on behalf of the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, I answer:

¶ 02 (a) (i) Yes.

¶ 03 (ii) The primary objective of the Warehouse Receipts Financing Project is to provide high-quality storage facilities for farmers to store harvests until fair prices are available, and to enable pledge loans from banks using stored grain stocks as collateral.

¶ 04 (iii) Three grain storage centres were constructed in 2015 in Anuradhapura, Monaragala and Mannar with World Bank support. In 2018, three more centres were established in Kilinochchi, Polonnaruwa and Ratnapura using domestic funds. In 2021, the Embilipitiya centre (Ratnapura District) was handed over to the Spices and Allied Products Marketing Board under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Infrastructure. Thus, currently five centres operate under the project.

¶ 05 (iv) 4,187 farmers are registered at these centres. In addition, unregistered daily users access services such as drying and cleaning. Therefore, beneficiaries exceed the number of registered farmers.

¶ 06 (v) Currently, the Regional Development Bank manages these centres under the supervision of the relevant District Secretary. Each centre has an Advisory Committee chaired by the District Secretary, including officers from the General Treasury, the Post-Harvest Management Institute, the Regional Development Bank, and other relevant district-level agencies.

¶ 07 (b) Does not arise.