COLOMBO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's cabinet of ministers has approved the import of 40,000 kg of Keeri Samba, a popular rice variety, a government spokesman said Tuesday.

Minister Nalinda Jayatissa told reporters that a shortage has emerged because farmers reduced plantings of this variety during the last farming season. While Sri Lanka recorded a high rice yield this year, Keeri Samba was planted on only 7 percent of the total paddy area, he said.

Sri Lanka periodically imports rice to meet shortages. ■