January 20, Colombo (LNW): In a move aimed at improving the country’s agricultural infrastructure, the Sri Lankan government has announced the deployment of the army to undertake the cleaning and restoration of paddy storage facilities nationwide.
This initiative, which is part of the broader “Clean Sri Lanka” programme, is being carried out under the supervision of the Defence Secretary and Army Commander.
The cleaning efforts are integral to the government’s plan to procure the current season’s paddy harvest, which will be stored in the 209 paddy storage facilities managed by the Paddy Marketing Board.
These storage facilities, however, have suffered from years of neglect, with many of them and the surrounding areas left in a state of disrepair.
As a result, they have become unsuitable for use, posing a challenge to the government’s effort to purchase and store the paddy effectively.
The army’s intervention aims to address this issue, ensuring that the storage facilities are properly cleaned and restored in time for the paddy harvest.
The operation is expected to be completed by January 27, allowing the facilities to be put to use for the storage of the newly harvested crop.
The government’s efforts to maintain the integrity of these facilities will hopefully help stabilise the local rice market and reduce post-harvest losses.
