Farmers in Colombo demanding guaranteed price for paddy

TUESDAY, 10 MARCH 2015

A protest march under the theme ‘No false price increase, Legalize guaranteed price for paddy!’ organized by All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation was held in Colombo today (9th).Farmers in loin clothes marched from V.D. Sirisena Grounds at Maligawatta to Colombo Fort Railway Station where an agitation was held.

The National Organizer of All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation Namal Karunaratna addressing the media after the agitation said, “The government has announced that Samba rice would be bought at Rs.50 a kilo and a kilo of nadu would be bought at Rs.45. However, 95% of the farmers have to sell their produce to a priced between Rs. 25 to Rs.35. Only private traders buy paddy from farmers. The government has admitted that the cost of production of a kilo of paddy is Rs.33.25.

The farmers now have to sell their paddy for a price less than the production cost. During the previous government the farmers were deceived and private traders were allowed to buy paddy at a very low price. We demand the government not to deceive the farmers again but to legalize the price of paddy by adopting a bill in parliament. If the government fails to do it we would expand farmers’ struggles into a massive agitation until farmers win their rights,” said Mr. Karunaratna.