The Ratnapura-Embilipitiya road was blocked from 9.45 am onwards yesterday due to a protest staged by close to 100 pepper cultivators who demanded that the government stop the import of pepper into the country.
They blamed the fall in the local pepper prices on the government’s policy of excessive importation.
“Soon after the current government came into power in 2015, they started to import a lot of pepper into the country. A kilo of pepper which used to fetch Rs 1,500 now can only be sold at a price less than Rs 500,” a protester said. They have thus demanded that all pepper imports be stopped. “The pepper we harvest once a year, brought in enough money to allow us to be not dependent on anyone, but today we have fallen from the frying pan and into the fire”, former Kolonna Pradeshiya Sabha UNP member D.R. Ariyaratne who was the main organiser of the protest said.
Residents of Godakawela, Pallebedda and Kolonna participated in the protest.
Add new comment