Sri Lanka’s Produce Army

Watch out Whole Foods. The Sri Lankan army, having triumphed in its long fight against the rebel Tamil Tigers, has now turned to selling vegetables to the country’s poor at reduced prices to help them through hard times. —JCL

The BBC:

As the people of Sri Lanka grapple with the rising cost of everyday living, the country’s huge army has started buying up vegetables from producers.

It is then selling them on at fixed prices lower than current shop prices.

The army, which no longer has a war to fight, says it is doing its bit to ease people’s lives in peacetime.

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AP / Eranga Jayawardena

Civilians flee fighting between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels in this photo from 2007. The civil war ended in the rebels’ defeat in June 2009.