Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that steps have been taken to cultivate 90% of the paddy lands to be cultivated during the Yala season.

The Minister said that the area under paddy cultivation during the Yala season has increased to 446,440.25 hectares and there will be no major rice crisis in the future.

The total area of ​​paddy lands planned to be cultivated by the Ministry of Agriculture during the Yala season this year is 601,261.73 hectares.

Due to the lack of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides required for paddy cultivation, up to the first week of May 2022, the area under paddy cultivation was 266,500.

However, taking into account the food shortages that the country will face in the future and the reliability of urea fertilizers provided by the Indian government and the resilience of farmers to farming, they are encouraged to cultivate paddy lands, he said.

The Minister further stated that out of the 65,000 metric tons of urea fertilizer provided by the government, 50,000 metric tons will be provided for paddy cultivation this year, another 10,000 metric tons for tea cultivation and the remaining 5,000 metric tons for maize cultivation.