• Financing to come from 2025 Budget; Govt. to facilitate loans  

The Government, while preparing to purchase the paddy harvest from the Maha cultivation season to address the prevailing rice shortage, is taking steps to renovate approximately 150 small-scale rice mills operated under the Department of Cooperative Development. 

According to the Ministry of Cooperative Development, this initiative aims to enhance the contribution of domestic farmers to the country’s rice supply. Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (2), the Deputy Minister of Cooperative Development Upali Samarasinghe stated that the rice produced in these mills would be distributed through cooperative societies and ‘Co-op City’ shops.

He further mentioned that the Government plans to allocate the required funds through the 2025 Budget. "We intend to renovate around 154 small-scale rice mills under the department that are currently inactive or not functioning properly. These mills will be able to contribute, even if modestly, to the national rice consumption. The Government will give them loans for this," he added.

He also noted that the Government is working to improve storage facilities as it prepares to procure the harvest through the Paddy Marketing Board. "Our focus is on supporting and fostering goodwill among domestic farmers and small-scale rice manufacturers. Therefore, the Government plans to purchase rice at a favourable price. To facilitate this, we are enhancing our storage capacity. We believe that this issue should be addressed through a collaborative mechanism involving both the Government and the private sector," he explained.  

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development recently stated that it is currently expecting a rice harvest of around 2.7-3.2 million metric tonnes in the Maha season.