The Government has taken action to widen the paddy purchasing network with additional funds provided to the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) and all cooperatives.

Farmers will not have any difficulty in selling their paddy at the guaranteed price during the current Maha Crop harvest season, said the Finance and Planning Ministry, reported Daily News.

The total investment on purchasing paddy during the current season is Rs.5 billion. All cooperatives are provided funds for paddy purchases to be carried out under the supervision of District Secretaries, the report added.

Rs.5 billion has been allocated to the PMB. Under the agricultural loans scheme, State banks have given Rs.2 billion to cooperatives to enable purchase paddy at Rs.30 per kilogram of samba and Rs.28 per kilogram of nadu, the report said.

District Secretaries will supervise paddy purchases by all cooperatives unlike in the past when only some cooperatives had purchased paddy, the report further said.

The Treasury has directed officials to allocate additional funds to District Secretaries to purchase paddy after a progress review meeting at the Finance Ministry recently.