President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said instructions have been issued not to recall to the General Treasury the funds allocated to the Paddy Marketing Board for purchasing paddy.
He was speaking at a farmers’ rally in Polonnaruwa on Saturday, Hiru News reported.
Unspent allocations are ordinarily swept back to the Treasury at the close of a financial period. Leaving the money with the PMB keeps its purchasing capacity intact between harvests rather than requiring a fresh allocation each season.
Fertiliser subsidy to continue into Maha
The President said steps will be taken to continue providing the Rs. 30,000 fertiliser subsidy to farmers during the upcoming Maha season.
State entry into the agrochemical market
At the same rally the President announced that the government has finalised plans to supply weedicides and pesticides at reasonable prices from next year, and said it aims to capture around 20% of the weedicide and pesticide market as a way of regulating prices and protecting farmers from exploitation, the Daily Mirror reported.
A 20% market share would make the state a price-setting participant rather than a regulator alone — the same instrument used in the fertiliser market, where subsidised state supply anchors the price private traders can charge.
Not reported
Neither report gives the size of the Paddy Marketing Board allocation being retained, how much of it remains unspent, or which agency was preparing to recall it. Neither states the total cost of extending the Rs. 30,000 subsidy through Maha, which body will import or distribute the agrochemicals, or what the 20% market-share target amounts to in volume or rupees.
