The annual rice consumption requirement in the country is approximately 2.2 million metric tons. The harvest for the 2020/2021 Maha season and the 2021 Yala season is approximately 4.8 million metric tons of rice and that amount can produce about 3.2 million metric tons of rice. However, the State Ministry of Cooperative Services, Marketing Development and Consumer Protection has planned to implement a programme to purchase a significant portion of the paddy harvest in collaboration with cooperatives to produce rice and sell it at a reasonable price, as a solution to the continued market prices hiking of rice.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal tabled by the Minister of Trade to establish five rice mills with modern technology in the Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Hambantota and Ampara districts under the private – cooperative partnership to purchase rice from the next Maha season and distribute it through Lanka Sathosa and Co-operative Societies.
by Daily News Sri Lanka
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