The Paddy Marketing Board has bought 64,838 metric tonnes of paddy under its Yala season procurement programme and spent Rs. 7.9 billion doing so, the board said on Friday.
The purchases were made from 32,215 farmers across 19 districts, with the largest volumes bought in Ampara and Anuradhapura, NewsFirst reported.
The first cost figure for the programme
Rs. 7.9 billion is the first figure the board has published for what the Yala drive has cost. Against 64,838 tonnes it implies an average of about Rs. 121,800 a tonne, or roughly Rs. 121.84 a kilogram.
That average sits just above the Rs. 120 floor the government pays for Nadu, indicating the bulk of what the board has taken in is Nadu rather than the higher-priced varieties. The guaranteed prices are Rs. 120 a kilogram for Nadu, Rs. 130 for Samba and Rs. 140 for Keeri Samba.
Across 32,215 farmers, the purchases average about 2.01 tonnes and roughly Rs. 245,000 paid per farmer.
The pace has picked up sharply
The programme opened on 13 July against a stated target of about 39,500 tonnes. It has now passed that target by 64%.
| Date | Tonnes bought |
|---|---|
| July 13 (opening day) | 25 |
| August 4 | ~15,000 |
| August 11 | 27,458 |
| August 25 | 45,362 |
| August 31 | 46,000+ |
| September 11 | 64,838 |
The rate of buying has reversed direction. Between 25 and 31 August the total advanced by only about 600 tonnes — roughly 106 tonnes a day, a slowdown noted when the 46,000-tonne figure was reported. Since then the board has added 18,838 tonnes in 11 days, about 1,713 tonnes a day.
Buying now runs in four districts
Purchasing is currently under way only in Mannar, Polonnaruwa, Kandy and Badulla, down from the 19 districts the programme has bought from in total — a pattern consistent with the programme closing down district by district as each harvest clears.
What has not been reported
NewsFirst did not say when the Yala programme will close, how much paddy the board now holds in storage, how much of the total came through the rice mill and cooperative channel opened in late August, or whether any per-farmer purchase limit applies.
