Paddy harvest for Maha season to exceed 3mn tonnes

Colombo (News1st) - The Department of Agriculture expects the paddy harvest of the Maha season to be the largest in recent history. Director General of the Department Dr. M.W. Weerakoon noted that they expect this season's harvest to exceed 3mn tonnes He added that this will ensure that the country has enough stocks to last the next 10 months. Weerakoon also noted that this would eliminate the need to import rice into the country for the foreseeable future. A total of  Rs 6.1bn has been allocated by the Government to purchase paddy produced during the Maha season. The paddy marketing board noted that they would begin purchasing paddy harvests from next week. The paddy marketing board expects to purchase up to 150,000 tonnes of paddy this season.