WFP assistance to build paddy warehouses
The World Food Programme has offered financial assistance to construct six warehouses to store this season’s bumper paddy harvest in the island.
The paddy storage facilities will be constructed in the Moneragala, Ampara, Polonnaruwa and Batticaloa Districts. Each warehouse will be able to store about 1,500 metric tons of paddy. Chairman of the Paddy Marketing Board K.B. Jayasinghe has said that there will be a special discussion at the Polonnaruwa District Secretariat today with regard to purchase of paddy in the District. He pointed out that the paddy stores in Polonnaruwa District are still stocked with the harvest of the last season and action has been initiated to shift them to food stores in Veyangoda and Divulapitiya in the Western Province to make room for this season’s crop. With this season’s bumper harvest the Board was experiencing difficulties in finding storage facilities for the paddy.