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19 CAA raids, three cases filed MRP violations on rice

10 Jun 2022

  • CAA warns of shortage due to panic buying 
BY Dinitha Rathnayake  More than 19 raids were carried out recently, and three cases were filed by the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) against the selling of rice above the maximum retail price (MRP) in the local market.  Speaking to The Morning, an Authority official said that raids were launched in an islandwide operation to detain traders who sell rice over the stipulated market prices. According to a Gazette issued by the CAA, the price of a kilogramme of Nadu rice is Rs. 220, 1 kg of Samba rice, Rs. 230, and 1 kg of Keeri Samba, Rs. 260. Meanwhile, the CAA also warned about a shortage of rice in the market and cited panic buying as the reason.  Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera allayed fears over a looming food crisis in the near future as cultivation data show that farmers have started to cultivate the country’s staple food more during this year than they did last year. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has however warned of a severe food crisis in August as Sri Lanka has failed to produce adequate rice crops in the last two cultivation seasons due to a fertiliser ban imposed in April of last year. As a result, farmers had to cultivate rice without subsidised fertiliser in 2021.  President Gotabaya Rajapaksa banned chemical fertiliser claiming that it has become a source of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer and chronic kidney disease in the main areas where rice is cultivated in Sri Lanka. The ban has since been lifted.


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