Feb 03, Colombo: As the prices of essential food items are soaring in Sri Lanka the Ministry of Agrarian Services and Wildlife has also planned to enter the market to manipulate the prices.

Accordingly, under the instructions of the Minister of Agrarian Services and Wildlife S.M. Chandrasena, the Department of Agrarian Services will start marketing of rice, vegetables, and the other essential food items.

The Department is to purchase 6,000 to 7,000 kilos of vegetables at the initial stage and to sell them via ten Agrarian Services Centers. The vegetables are to be sold in the Agrarian Services Centers in Colombo, Kotte, Malabe, Kolonnawa, Kesbewa, Homagama, Kahathuduwa, Padukka, Kosgama and the Ministry office in Colombo.

The Department expects to expand the sales network to the 556 Agrarian Services Centers island wide.

The aim of the Ministry is to bring down the prices by preventing unfair profits gained by middlemen. The Ministry says that the prices of many essential food items are increased by three fold when they reach the retail market due to profiting methods of the middlemen.