The All Ceylon Farmers Federation charges the country’s daily demand for rice cannot be met with the 2,000MT of rice due to be imported from China.
Convener of the Federation Namal Karunaratne speaking to NewsRadio said the government which came to power by promising to provide the public with meals that have no harmful substances are now providing the people with food containing toxic chemicals.
He said the government changed the country’s agricultural path with the aim of providing food free of harmful substances adding the end result was that the agricultural sector collapsed, harvest reduced and farmers were burdened.
He claimed now the government is importing rice from the country that uses the most harmful substances in the world.
Karunaratne noted rice is being imported from Pakistan, Myanmar, India and China, and all these countries use more chemicals than Sri Lanka.
He said imported rice stocks have a guarantee period of two years adding locally produced rice can only be stored for three months.
He added if locally produced rice contains 25 percent of harmful chemicals, imported rice has 75 percent.
