Rice mills inactive, workers losing jobs due to harvest shortage

COLOMBO (News 1st); The reduction in the paddy harvest this time had affected paddy mills, says Kandy District Rice Producers' Cooperative Society.

Convening a media briefing in Hasalaka, Morayaya on Sunday (09) they stated that rice mills have become inactive while almost all the workers at paddy mills have lost their jobs.

Speaking further, the Chairman of the Kandy District Rice Producers Co-operative Society, Nishantha Bandara Attanayake stated that the paddy mill owners' bank loans cannot be repaid, and demanded a relief to be granted by the Government for the reduction in yield as small and medium scale paddy mill owners have a production capacity of 65%.

Furthermore, Attanayake said that the Government should answer how we pay the salaries of their employees, and the Government needs to answer how they will be able to find the necessary raw materials.

"Today farmers do not have even a single grain of paddy. They have even sold all the gold they have in possession," he stated.

Furthermore, the association stated that they believe that less than 50% of the usual harvest will be produced in this season, and if owners of large scale paddy mills increase their prices and seize it, there will be a food shortage in this country again.

" What should we do at paddy mills if the farmer's paddy harvest is low? It is a pity to say that Government banks are auctioning off paddy mills very fast," he said.