ADB grants Rs. 8 billion for paddy farmers in Sri Lanka

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has granted Rs. 8 billion to Sri Lanka for the benefit of paddy farmers, the President’s Media Division (PMD) says.

The grant comes at the request of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Accordingly, small-scale paddy farmers cultivating lands to the extent of one hectare or less will receive an allowance of Rs. 10,000. Meanwhile, Rs. 20,000 will be given to farmers who are engaged in paddy cultivation on lands of more than one hectare.

This non-refundable financial assistance is provided only to the paddy farmers and the money will be directly credited to their accounts, according to Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.

The amount of paddy to be cultivated during the Maha Season is 800,000 hectares and it is planned to give this allowance to all the paddy farmers to purchase MOP fertilizer.

Minister Amaraweera has stated that the amount proposed to be spent for this purpose is Rs.08 billion and 1.2 million farming families will be entitled to this benefit.