Mon, Aug 9, 2021, 10:41 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Aug 09, Colombo: Officials of the Department of Cooperative Development have revealed before the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) that discussions have commenced to import red dhal from Australia and white sugar from India.
If the negotiations are successful, sugar and dhal can be imported from those countries and will be supplied to consumers at a concessionary price through cooperatives as soon as possible, the officials have said.
Prof. Tissa Vitharana, Chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts, instructed the officials of the Department of Cooperative Development to develop the cooperative system and provide essential commodities to the consumers island wide at reasonable prices.
Prof. Vitharana also pointed out the importance of increasing the relationship between farmers’ cooperatives and consumer cooperatives and taking certain products directly to the people.
The COPA Chairman also said he believes that it will be possible to provide essential food items such as dhal, sugar and rice at a reasonable price through a formal system.
Following Prof. Tissa Vitharana’s remarks, the officials of the Department of Cooperative Development stated that discussions have already commenced to import dhal from Australia and white sugar from India.