Sri Lanka’s rice farmers affected by Cyclone Ditwah will receive compensation not only for their actual financial losses but also for the emotional distress they have experienced, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced.
Taxpayers will provide compensation of 150,000 rupees per damaged hectare to support the impacted farmers.
Cyclone Ditwah struck early in the season when the rice plants were still young, leaving farmers with a few weeks to re-cultivate their fields. President Dissanayake explained to parliament that the actual cost of establishing a young rice field—including field preparation, labor, and fertilizer subsidies—amounts to around 80,000 rupees. However, the higher compensation is intended to offer encouragement and acknowledge the distress farmers feel when their crops are destroyed.
“We know the pain a person suffers when the land they cultivated is destroyed,” President Dissanayake said. “A farmer goes in the morning to the paddy field to look at the plants and is happy. I know the mental breakdown a farmer faces when the cultivation is destroyed. So we decided on the 150,000 per hectare.”
In addition to this compensation, Sri Lankan rice farmers also receive fertilizer subsidies. The Agrarian Services Department already has the necessary bank account details for these payments, and President Dissanayake confirmed that all farmers who previously received fertilizer subsidies will receive the 150,000 rupees next week.
Sri Lankan consumers typically pay about 50 percent more for rice compared to the rest of South Asia, due to import bans and a 200-dollar-per-tonne (60 rupees per kilogram) import tax, even when restrictions are eased.
(Colombo/Dec20/2025)
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