The Government has planned to expand the market for rice by encouraging its use in a wide range of value-added rice-based products rather than limiting it solely to consumption as a staple food, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said.
The President made these remarks while addressing the inauguration of a new water supply project in Thambuttegama, today (10).
President Dissanayake said that a Gazette notification had previously prohibited the use of rice for the production of rice-based products due to the country's low paddy production and the need to safeguard supplies for domestic consumption. However, he said the current Government had revoked the Gazette following the increase in local rice production.
"There was a Gazette prohibiting the use of rice for other products because our rice production was insufficient even for consumption. But now we have adequate production, and we have removed that Gazette so rice can be used not only for cooking but also for many other products,” the President said.
He explained that the decision was taken to help overcome the difficulties faced by farmers during periods of surplus harvest by creating greater demand for paddy, increasing competition in the market and ensuring fair prices for producers.
President Dissanayake said the Government intends to promote the use of rice in the production of animal feed, beer, wine, biscuits, cakes and a range of other value-added products.
"We know that countries like Japan produce a wide variety of products using rice, but Sri Lanka has become a country that uses rice mainly for cooking. If we continue like this, surplus harvests will create problems. We must expand into other industries as well," he said.
The President further stated that institutions working to prevent post-harvest losses have already developed numerous rice-based food and beverage products at the research stage and that steps will be taken to introduce them to the commercial market in the near future.
"Developing these products at the research level is not enough. We must bring them to the market. That is how we can create a much larger market for rice," he said.
He noted that expanding the rice market would encourage not only rice millers but also manufacturers of wine, biscuits, animal feed and other products to purchase paddy, creating greater competition among buyers and enabling farmers to secure higher and fairer prices for their harvests.
"Rice millers will buy paddy for consumption, while others can buy it for wine, biscuits or animal feed. That will create a much larger market, improve competition and help ensure farmers receive a fair price for their paddy," the President said.
Urging farmers to seize these new opportunities, President Dissanayake called on them to improve productivity, increase harvests and expand paddy cultivation.
"Let us cultivate more, increase the yields from our paddy fields, improve productivity and work harder. By increasing production, we can supply these new markets and produce many of the food products our country needs from rice," he added.
