Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) Chairman Upali Mohotti told the Daily News on Friday that the government had allocated Rs. 4,900 million for the purchasing of paddy from farmers during this Yala season, but the private sector has purchased about 98 percent of the paddy harvest.
The PMB was able to buy only two percent of the paddy harvest this year as private businessmen had offered farmers a higher price for their harvest, Mohotti said.