The Finance Ministry has released Rs 5.5 billion to the Agriculture Ministry to be distributed among the farmers to purchase fertilizer for the Maha season.
As per the request of the agriculture Ministry another RS 1.5 billion is scheduled to be released today -Wednesday.
The present government decided to pay in cash directly to paddy farmers instead of giving fertilizer under subsidized price. Accordingly farmers will receive Rs 25,000 per hectares for each Maha and yala seasons separately to purchase fertilizer. This has enabled the government to reduce the operational cost of arranging fertilizer under subsidized scheme.
For the next year too, the government has allocated Rs 55 billion for the purchasing of fertilizer for the Yala and Maha Season.
Since the Finance Ministry has compiled a database of farmers engaged in paddy cultivation once the request has been received from the agricultural Ministry the money will be directly debited to the farmers accounts. Farmers will get Rs 50,000 per hectare for Yala and Maha season.