BY Buddhika Samaraweera   The Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) is to purchase paddy from the Yala cultivation season from this week onwards, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Speaking to the media yesterday (15), Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera said that the PMB would start purchasing paddy from farmers from this week onwards. He said that a Cabinet paper was to be submitted in this regard to the Cabinet of Ministers meeting, which was scheduled to be held last evening. The committee appointed by the Ministry to determine the prices at which the PMB would purchase paddy from farmers during the Yala cultivation season, had recently recommended the PMB to purchase a kilo of Nadu paddy at Rs. 120, Samba and Kekulu paddy at Rs. 125, and Keeri Samba paddy at Rs. 130. Speaking to the media on an earlier occasion, Amaraweera said that the aim of the PMB purchasing paddy from farmers is to give a higher price to the farmers, and to contribute towards controlling the increase in the rice prices in the market by releasing PMB-manufactured rice in the coming months. The Ministry recently stated that the PMB is to purchase 100,000 metric tonnes of paddy from the harvest of the Yala season, spending Rs. 10.5 billion.