Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2020-02-27

Enhancing the Income of Big Onions Farmers' through the increase of the Minimum Guaranteed Price of the Government for Big Onions

- By the 'Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour' Policy Manifesto, a proposal has been made to implement a new programme for the cultivation of big onion and similar crops to convert the huge foreign exchange spent on importation of such crops into an income of the farmers engaged in growing such crops. It has been identified that the formulation of a proper mechanism, to increase the Government guaranteed price of big onion in order to encourage the farmers to uplift their cultivation by giving them a reasonable price for the harvest and to utilize the lands more productively for cultivation, are of absolute importance. Accordingly, the proposal made by the Prime Minister in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economy and Policy Development to increase the minimum government guaranteed price of per kg of big onions from Rs.60/- to Rs.80/- and by the Ministry of Mahaweli, Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Development to implement a special programme expeditiously to enhance the production of big onion by increasing the productivity, was approved by the Cabinet.