The Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera says that vouchers to the value of Rs. 20,000 per hectare will be provided to paddy farmers from tomorrow (May 22) for the cultivation of the ‘Yala’ season.

Accordingly, the government has decided to provide the necessary financial allocations in the form of subsidy vouchers to 650, 000 farmers for the purchase of chemical or organic fertilizers, in order to reduce the production costs of the farmers who cultivate paddy in the upcoming ‘Yala’ season.

Minister Amaraweera emphasized that the financial allocations will be provided upon the approval of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Thereby, measures have been taken to provide a voucher to the value of Rs. 20,000 per hectare, and Rs. 40,000 per two hectares to paddy farmers through the Department of Agricultural Development.

This year, the amount allocated by the government for fertilizer subsidy is Rs. 10 billion.

Furthermore, farmers have been allowed to purchase the chemical or organic fertilizers supplied by the two state fertilizer companies from the Farmers Service Offices and also from the private sector according to their interest.

The symbolic distribution of these fertilizer subsidy vouchers will be carried out tomorrow (22) at 12.30 p.m. by providing vouchers to 25 farmers by Agricultural Minister Mahinda Amaraweera at the Auditorium of the Ministry of Agriculture.