Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said the Government has reduced fertiliser prices by 78 percent. This will benefit 650,000 farming families engaged in paddy cultivation during the Yala season.

A 50 kg bag of urea fertilizer sold at Rs.42,000 will be reduced to Rs 9,000 by next week. The Government has provided fertilizer at concessionary rates to farmers to encourage rice production to avoid rice imports, create a rice surplus and minimize farmers’ production costs since the last Yala season.

A bag of 50 kg urea fertilizer which was Rs. 42,000 was given to farmers at Rs. 10,000 under the program. The price will be further reduced to Rs.9,000 from next week.

The Government reduced the fertilizer price, and a 50 kg bag of urea fertilizer in the open market has dropped to Rs 11,000.

The Government provided mud fertilizer (Triple Superphosphate) to farmers free when the 50 kg mud fertilizer bag was sold at Rs 22,000 in the open market during the last Yala season.The Government has also taken steps to reduce the price of a 50 kg bag of Bandi Pohora (Muriate of Potash) by Rs. 4,500 during the Yala season. The earlier price was Rs.19,500.

Farmers can now get a 50 kg bag of Bandi fertilizer at Rs.15,000 under the Government’s fertilizer subsidy program.

The Government has also provided a subsidy of Rs. 20,000 for farmers per hectare and Rs 40,000 for a maximum of two hectares to purchase any fertiliser for their paddy cultivation during the Yala season. Most of the coupons issued to farmers to purchase fertiliser have now been distributed.

Minister Amaraweera said that the authorities expect a paddy harvest of 2.4 million metric tons during the Yala season from the 500,000 hectares under cultivation. A mechanism has been devised to purchase the paddy at rates beneficial to the farmer.

He said 800,000 metric tons of rice of various types had been imported last year. At present, rice imports have been suspended (with the exception of Basmati rice) and the Government has laid emphasis on boosting local paddy cultivation to make Sri Lanka self-sufficient in rice.

Two ships carrying nearly 30,000 MT of urea fertiliser have reached the Colombo Port and there will be no shortage of any type of fertiliser in the market, Agriculture Ministry sources said.