May 22, Colombo: The implementation of a subsidy voucher system to get the fertilizers needed by the farmers who cultivate paddy in the Yala season will start today.

The fertilizer subsidy vouchers will be issued from today for 650,000 farmers who cultivate paddy in the Yala season to purchase the required fertilizer.

Accordingly, the farmers will have the opportunity to purchase chemical or organic fertilizers with the aim of reducing their production costs.

The amount allocated by the government for fertilizer subsidy is Rs.10 billion. It has been decided to provide this financial subsidy in the form of a voucher to every farmer.

Accordingly, arrangements have been made to provide a subsidy of Rs.20,000 per hectare and 40,000 rupees for two hectares for the paddy cultivation in 2023 Yala Season.

The Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera said that the Agrarian Development Department will issue these vouchers to 650,000 farmers who are cultivating paddy this Yala season, and the farmers can only buy chemical fertilizers or organic fertilizers with these vouchers.

The farmers have been given the opportunity to buy chemical or organic fertilizers supplied by the two government fertilizer companies from all the Agrarian Service Centers in countrywide as well as by the private sector.

The symbolic release of these fertilizer subsidy vouchers will be held today at 12.30 pm to 25 farmers by Minister Mahinda Amaraweera at the Agriculture Ministry Auditorium.

However, expressing his opinion in this regard, Namal Karunaratne, the national organizer of the All Ceylon Agrarian Federation, said that the system of providing vouchers is not successful. He said that this season too, the paddy yield will drop significantly due to the failure of the fertilizer system to be implemented properly.