Jaffna cultivators’ welcome duty hike on imported potatoes

Source:Island

The Jaffna Potato Growers’ Association yesterday welcomed the government decision to impose a 50-rupee duty on each kilo of imported potato.

Vice President of the Association S. Chandrasekeran said that the Jaffna potato farmers were thankful to the government decision to protect the local farming community. The hike in duty on imported potatoes was timely because it came concurrent with the local potato harvesting time, he said.

Chandrasekeran said that the Prime Minister had ordered that Jaffna potatoes be purchased at Rs 100 a kilo during the last season but the order did not help the Jaffna growers as the market was full of imported and Nuwara-Eliya potatoes.

He said that the import duty of 50 rupees per kilo would discourage imports and that would help Jaffna farmers to obtain a reasonable price for their produce in the current season.