The Government is considering purchasing vegetables directly from farmers through the Agriculture Ministry to sell to the public through Sathosa outlets that are under the purview of the Trade Ministry, as a measure to reduce the skyrocketing vegetable prices. The decision has been taken by the Cabinet-appointed Cost of Living Committee in consultation with the Agriculture Ministry and the Trade Ministry, following a successful trial. Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told The Sunday Morning that his Ministry had already successfully carried out a programme through which vegetables were purchased directly from the farmers and sold directly to the public. “We managed to sell a bag of vegetables valued at Rs. 700 at Rs. 350 by purchasing directly from the farmers. We managed to achieve this target by cutting out all middlemen,” the Minister said. The Agriculture Ministry has, in the first stage of the programme, sold up to 10,000 such vegetable bags. “The wastage recorded by us when transporting vegetables from the farmer was 2%,” Aluthgamage further explained. Following the successful programme carried out by the Agriculture Ministry, the Cost of Living Committee decided to expand the programme by formulating a joint mechanism with the Agriculture and Trade Ministries. The two Ministries are now in the process of finalising the mechanism, Aluthgamage said.