Mr. Kabir Hashim, Member of Parliament, said that the government should take necessary steps to properly distribute the imported rice stocks and the rice stocks received from the high season to the market and it is the responsibility of the government to bring the price of rice to a reasonable price during the coming Sinhala and Hindu New Year. Sri Lanka Latest News
If the country’s economic management is functioning properly, the price of rice in the country should be reduced by now
Mr. Kabir Hashim himself said that the government has the ability to provide rice at a low price and he requests the government to implement a necessary program immediately.
Parliamentarian Mr. Kabir Hashim said this at the press conference held at the Opposition Leader’s Office in Colombo today (13) and MPs Mr. Iran Wickramaratne and Member of Parliament Dr. Harsha De Silva were also present at the press conference.
Mr. Kabir Hashim who further commented said:
“After 2019, the people of the country did not get a chance to celebrate the Sinhala and Hindu New Year properly. After 2020, there were continuous crises in the country. Therefore, the people could not celebrate the Sinhala Hindu New Year properly. It does not seem that there is a situation where the people can celebrate the New Year properly even in 2024. The people of the country only have problems. With the celebration of the Sinhala and Hindu New Year, rice becomes a staple. But there is a big problem regarding the price of rice in the country. If the country’s economic management is functioning properly, the price of rice in the country should have decreased by now.
The Minister of Commerce had said two years ago that Keeri Samba will import 50,000 metric tons. Since the price of rice may increase by the time of the Sinhala Hindu New Year, the government had announced that it would import rice to control the price of rice. Currently, the government has imported between 25,000 and 30,000 metric tons of kiri samba.
Also, a successful harvest has been obtained from the country’s high season this year. The Minister of Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture have announced about it. If there has been a successful harvest, if rice has been imported, the price of rice in the market should have decreased by now. But the government has not been able to reduce the price of rice. A problem has arisen as to whether this is a problem of economic management or a problem of the rice mafia in the market.
In December 2023, a kilo of Keeri Samba is 245 rupees. Currently, the price of a kilo of Keeri Samba is 355 rupees. The government said that in December 2023, 220 kg of samba has become 263 rupees today. In December 2023, a kilo of Nadu rice is 190 rupees. Today, a kilo of Nadu rice is 219. Looking at this, the price of rice has increased in a serious way.
Large-scale paddy mill owners control the rice market or wholesale and retail trade personnel or importers take net profit from rice without doing justice to consumers. It is the responsibility of the government to look into this.
There are no magic answers to the economy. The country’s economic problems cannot be solved by boasting. There should be a policy framework. There must be an economic theory. Bringing the products to the market, how to break the market monopoly if it has been formed, Samagi Janabalawega has a program to bring rice to the market at a low price. In the economic program presented by the Samagi Janabalawega, it was mentioned that under a Samagi Janabalawega government, how to create a subsidy for the farmer in agriculture and how to implement a program to buy the goods needed by the consumer at a fair price. The government is not implementing this program successfully. The country’s alternative parties also have no program.
It is the responsibility of the government to bring the price of rice to a fair price during Sinhala and Hindu New Year. The government is requested to take necessary measures to distribute the imported rice stocks and the rice stocks received from the high season to the market properly. The government has the ability to provide rice at a low price. The government is requested to implement a necessary program immediately. The good governance government started a program to eliminate the rice mafia. But there was no time to finish that program. Efforts are being made to eliminate the rice mafia under a united people’s government again.”
When Anura Kumara was the Minister of Agriculture, the rice mafia could have been broken
Anura Kumara Dissanayake had also stated that the country is self-sufficient in rice but a mafia is operating. Anura Kumara Dissanayake has stated that 23 lakh metric tons of rice is consumed per year and that amount is produced in the country and 35 lakh metric tons of rice is required and that is also produced in Sri Lanka.
Anuru Kumara Dissanayake’s party tried to socialize an opinion in the country that the country was destroyed due to a curse of 74 years and nothing happened in the country after independence. Anura Kumara Dissanayake himself says today that the country is self-sufficient. Did the country become self-sufficient by itself? When Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948, the country’s rice production was 35 percent. In 1948, 64 percent of rice was imported. In 1994
The country became self-sufficient. Through the Mahaweli project and the Gal Oya project, we were able to develop the country’s agriculture. In 1990, paddy yield was 3600 kg per hectare. Looking at it that way, Anura Kumara Dissanayake has no right to talk about a 74-year curse.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake says that the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna will destroy the rice mafia. Anura Kumara Dissanayake 2004 Former Minister of Agriculture. Why was Anura Kumara Dissanayake unable to make agricultural changes in the country at that time? At that time too there was rice mafia. The rice mafia could have been broken. If Anura Kumara Dissanayake had broken the rice mill mafia at that time, things would have changed. Dudley Sirisena, the owner of a large-scale paddy mill, says that when Anura Kumara Dissanayake was the Minister of Agriculture in 2004, he used to get phone calls early in the morning. Anura Kumara Dissanayake has taken advice from the rice mafia itself. Anura Kumara Dissanayake should have spoken to a farmer.”
