The Army has opened a chain of 14 food stores in the capital and suburbs to sell vegetables at low prices, the Lankan Defence Ministry said here today.
Since October, vegetable prices in the country have risen as heavy rains destroyed crops forcing the island nation to import products to meet the domestic demand."The Army is making a vital contribution in extending relief to consumers by establishing consumer centres for selling vegetables at reasonable prices," the ministry said in a statement.
"Consumers will be able to purchase vegetables at reasonable prices as the Army makes direct purchases of vegetables from cultivators," the statement said.
The Army will purchase the vegetable from farmers through the Army camps and plan to sell them for consumers thus minimising brokering by some vendors which pushes up the retail prices.The Army wiped out the LTTE in May 2009, ending nearly four decades of civil war that claimed an estimated 100,000 lives.