Namal Karunaratne, National Organizer of the All Ceylon Agrarian Federation, said that the country's rice reserves would be completely depleted in the next two months, adding that rice stocks were already declining rapidly. In particular, the country needs an estimated 3.7 million metric tons of paddy per year, but only 1.5 million metric tons of paddy was produced during the Maha season, and paddy production in the Yala season was a dream during the fertilizer crisis, Karunaratne said.
Accordingly, the non-completion of at least 2 million metric tons of paddy per year instead of 3.7 million metric tons is a serious problem, he said.
He said that if rice was imported from abroad, it would cost four times as much as the current dollar, and the country's worst crisis would begin when the country's dollar deficit was totally affected.
Mr. Karunaratne further stated that no solution can be found to the food crisis as the government has not yet provided the required fertilizer for the Yala season, even though the government has promised to provide fertilizer.
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