Selling rice and flour through open market sale (OMS) program will continue until the rice market is stable, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said on Tuesday.
“The government operates the program for five months – from March to April and September to November – every year and the OMS service will continue as long as the market is unstable,” he said.
The government started OMS from September 1 and under the service, people can purchase 1kg of rice at Tk30 and 1kg of flour at Tk18.
Local administration, officials of the Food Department and intelligence team are monitoring the service, said the minister.
Talking about Boro procurement, the food minister said the government has procured over 1.1 million tons of boiled rice while 55.20 thousand tons of non-boiled rice have been collected.
“The government has a target to procure 600,000 lakh tons of paddy but we got only 268,000 tons,” he said.
During the current Aman season, the government will import rice after ensuring fair prices for the farmers.
The government is going to procure 103,000 tons of rice and wheat from several countries, he said.
As per agreement, the government will purchase 2.30 lakh tons of rice from Vietnam, 200,000 tons from Myanmar, 100,000 ton from India, and 500,000 tons of wheat from Russia, he added.
He also hinted at more procurement of rice through the government to tackle the drought in advance.
An individual can buy five kgs of rice and flour.
Besides, the TCB card holders can also avail the opportunity.
Meanwhile, the government also started the food friendly program from the same day under which 5 million people can purchase rice at Tk15.