The Paddy Marketing Board has purchased approximately 15,000 metric tonnes of paddy so far in the 2026 Yala season, board Chairman Manjula Pinnalanda said.
Ninety stores have been opened across the island for purchasing, the chairman said, including 28 in Ampara, 18 in Anuradhapura, 10 in Monaragala, 10 across Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi, and six in Polonnaruwa, NewsFirst reported.
Procurement has roughly doubled in a week
The figure marks a sharp acceleration in a drive that began on July 13. The board had bought 305 metric tonnes in its first four days, 5,390 tonnes by July 24 and 7,267 tonnes by July 28, when it was operating 71 centres.
Volumes have therefore roughly doubled in the week since, while the purchasing network has grown by 19 stores. The concentration of stores in Ampara, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa follows the dry-zone districts where the Yala crop is heaviest.
Why the guaranteed price matters
The government buys paddy under its guaranteed price scheme at Rs. 120 per kilogram for Nadu, Rs. 130 for Samba and Rs. 140 for Keeri Samba. The mechanism is intended to protect farmers from sharp price falls at harvest, when a supply glut can push farm-gate prices below production costs.
By buying directly and storing the crop, the PMB aims to steady the domestic rice market and hold buffer stocks for release when supplies tighten. Farmer organisations have at times argued that state purchasing arrives too late in the harvest cycle to stop private traders setting lower prices, which makes the pace of store openings as closely watched as the tonnage itself.
Procurement is running as heavy rain continues over the wet zone and the central hills, though the districts hosting most of the purchasing stores lie outside the areas worst affected by the current spell.
Update (August 7): total reaches 19,592 tonnes
The Paddy Marketing Board has now bought 19,592 metric tonnes since purchasing began in July, Chairman Manjula Pinnalanda said — an increase of roughly 4,600 tonnes on the figure reported here on August 4.
Purchases have been made in twelve districts: Mullaitivu, Ampara, Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Hambantota, Kurunegala, Matale, Monaragala, Vavuniya, Ratnapura, Trincomalee and Kilinochchi, NewsFirst reported.
Pinnalanda told Ada Derana that more than 100 storage facilities are now open, and that further warehouses will be opened as harvesting begins in areas where it has not yet started. Not all warehouses in the Polonnaruwa district have opened, he said, with only a limited number currently operating there.
The guaranteed prices are unchanged at Rs. 120 per kilogram for Nadu, Rs. 130 for Samba and Rs. 140 for Keeri Samba.
One figure is in dispute between the two reports. NewsFirst put the purchasing network at 71 centres, which is the number the board was operating on July 28; Ada Derana’s account a day earlier quoted the chairman as saying more than 100 storage facilities are open, and the board itself reported 90 stores on August 4. The higher figure is the one consistent with the trend, and LankaNewz has not repeated the 71-centre count as current.
