• Farmers org. points to dilapidation of ‘significant’ no. of storage facilities, mould growth  

Amidst the ongoing talks on setting purchase prices for paddy, farmers’ groups raised concerns about the public sector’s ability to purchase and store adequate stocks of paddy. They urged the relevant authorities to pay attention to methodically improving the capacity of storage facilities owned by the public sector.

The National Agrarian Unity organisation President Anuradha Thennakoon said that although it is said that around 300,000 metric tonnes (MT) of paddy will be purchased by the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB), it will be reduced to 187,500 MT when converted into rice, which he said is sufficient only for around 28 days.

Pointing out the necessity of purchasing and storing more paddy, he told The Daily Morning that the public sector owns only around 210 paddy storage facilities, of which a significant share remains dilapidated and needs to be repaired to reach full capacity. 

“These storage facilities cannot be restored all at once. There are technical and practical factors involved, such as the development of mould (on paddy) within a matter of a few weeks. After that, the paddy has to be given for animal food,” he said, adding that the restoration and expansion of storage facilities cannot be achieved hastily, and requires short-, medium- and long-term plans. 

The absence of such a plan, he added, will render the Government unable to store the said amount of paddy.

Attempts to contact the PMB to discuss its plans on improving storage facilities were not successful.

Last week, the authorities met with farmers’ groups where the latter demanded that paddy purchase prices be increased to Rs. 130-140, pointing out the increased cost of the production of paddy. Although the Government has expressed hopes that the two parties would be able to resolve the matter amicably, Thennakoon further raised concerns about the process of determining paddy purchase prices, adding that the estimated cost of production estimated by the authorities does not reflect the actual cost.