According to the President’s Media Division (PMD), Sri Lanka President Anura Kumara Dissanayake met with small and medium-sized rice mill owners to discuss a consistent and reasonably priced supply of rice for consumers in the upcoming months, as the country faces a potential shortage in the first quarter of 2025.
Days before the summit, over 20% of the island’s rice crop area—including the sizable paddy field districts of Ampara and Anuradhapura—was damaged by intense rains.
According to the local media, people have already begun to complain about rising rice prices under President Dissanayake’s new administration, despite his pledge to lower them.
The President underlined during the conversation how crucial it is to guarantee consumers a steady and reasonably priced supply of rice in the upcoming months. He worked with the mill owners to determine what urgent steps were required to accomplish this objective,” the PMD stated in a statement.
In order to avoid shortages and guarantee a consistent supply of rice, the meeting also focused on improving storage facilities nationwide.
Concerns were also expressed on the diminishing supply of Nadu rice for human consumption as a result of its growing usage in products with added value.
“President Dissanayake emphasized the potential advantages of implementing a QR code system to expedite fertilizer subsidy distribution and increase domestic agricultural output.”
Despite the nation’s surplus output this year, the new government had intended to buy 70,000 metric tonnes of rice before to the floods in order to meet a potential market shortage.
Stakeholders in the rice market warned that crop damage could worsen the deficit and make rice more expensive in the upcoming quarter, when Sri Lanka typically produces the most.
