Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said the government’s guaranteed price for paddy leaves farmers losing Rs. 17 on every kilo they produce, and that a promised higher price has not been legislated two years into the government’s term.
Premadasa said the government came to power promising a guaranteed price of Rs. 150 a kilo, but that the necessary measures were never passed. He said the Agriculture Minister had told Parliament the production cost of a kilo of paddy is Rs. 137, while the guaranteed price has been set at Rs. 120 — a gap of Rs. 17 that he said the government had deliberately imposed on farmers.
He was speaking at an event to hand over a water purification system worth Rs. 1.2 million to the Sansehta community-based organisation in the 11th division of Devahuwa, Galewela, under the Samagi Jana Balawegaya’s “Sathkara” programme.
Imports
Premadasa said the country’s annual rice requirement is 2.5 million metric tonnes against production of 3.2 million metric tonnes, and that the government had nonetheless imported 382,000 metric tonnes of rice from abroad — a decision he described as a betrayal of the farming community.
He said paddy, maize and potato farmers had been left destitute while the government gave priority to raising the retirement age of judges over resolving people’s problems. Legislation on the judicial retirement age has been before Parliament this month and drew a special general meeting of the Bar Association.
Wider warnings
The Opposition Leader also warned that water sources could dry up under El Niño and La Niña conditions, and that poverty could rise to between 30% and 40% in such an environment, with a risk of factories closing.
He said the Samagi Jana Balawegaya is the only party to have served the public from opposition without state funds since independence in 1948, and called for voters not to be deceived by character assassination on social media ahead of 2029.
The figures cited are Premadasa’s own. No response from the Agriculture Ministry was reported, and at the time of writing no other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had published its own account of the remarks. The government’s paddy purchasing arrangements were debated in Parliament this month when a Rs. 7.5 billion supplementary estimate for Yala season purchases was taken up.
