President sets target for officials to increase fallen pepper price

A discussion was held at the Presidential Secretariat today (20) with the participation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to review actions that need to be taken to find a long-term solution pertaining to the pepper price in Sri Lanka.

The PMD reported that prior to 2015, the price of a kilogram of pepper stood between Rs 1,500 – 1,300. However, it had now come down to Rs. 450 - 500. The price of raw pepper is between Rs 150 – 175 per kilo.

During recent visits by President Rajapaksa to several districts, farmers had requested him to safeguard the cultivators by taking measures to increase the pepper price, the President’s Media Division said.

Sri Lanka is among the world’s best pepper producers. The demand is high for Sri Lankan pepper in the world market. India buys around 75% of Sri Lankan pepper exports. There is a high demand from America and European countries as well.

In recent years, low quality pepper from Vietnam had been imported, mixed with locally grown pepper and re-exported to the world market. In this context, the demand for pepper in countries including India has decreased drastically.

“After my assumption to office the importation of pepper was halted completely. As a result of this step yet again the environment has been created to export high quality pepper. We should win the foreign market by appraising the buyer countries through all the diplomatic missions”, the President stressed.

Attention was drawn to increase quota for pepper following consultations with India. The President pointed out that our key strategy should be to supply pepper as a value-added product to the world market.

It was discussed in detail how to increase the demand for pepper worldwide, by encouraging new exporters and the development of post-harvest techniques.

The President instructed the institutes led by the Ministry of Agriculture to jointly plan necessary steps for drying, sterilization and setting up of processing centers at district level to add more value to pepper. It has also decided to allocate funds for equipment from the next budget.

The President also advised the officials to take steps to encourage farmers towards pepper cultivation and to provide required knowledge to them.

President Rajapaksa emphasized that the end result of all the decisions should be to ensure maximum price for the pepper harvest. The President giving advice to implement all the decisions immediately said that the target of the next year should be to receive higher prices for the pepper productions.

Secretary to the President, P.B. Jayasundera, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, S.R. Attygalle, Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Major General (retd) Sumedha Perera, Secretary to the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Export Agriculture, Ravindra Hewavitharana, Secretary to the Ministry of Industrial Export and Investment Promotion, M.P.D.U. K. Mapa Pathirana, Secretary to the Ministry of Industries J.A. Ranjith, pepper exporters and officials participated in this meeting.

-PMD