Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2018-02-27

Supply of Chemical Fertilizer for Paddy Cultivation in the Yala Season - 2018

- The supply of fertilizer is necessary from the oncoming first week of the month of April for around 500,000 hectares of paddy expected to be cultivated during the Yala season of 2018. Since, it is difficult to import and distribute fertilizer prior to the said time period following the normal procurement procedure for purchasing fertilizer, the proposal made by Hon. Duminda Dissanayake, the Minister of Agriculture, to adopt an expeditious procurement procedure and select a suitable supplier by calling for competitive bids and to issue Treasury Guarantees to the two state owned Fertilizer Companies namely, the Ceylon Fertilizer Company Limited and the Colombo Commercial Fertilizer Company Limited for purchasing fertilizer, was approved by the Cabinet.