To help marginal farmers get a fair price for their crops, the government has decided to procure aman paddy directly from them in the upcoming month.
The target is to buy 200,000 tons of paddy from the domestic market at Tk26 per kg, 600,000 tons of boiled paddy at Tk37 per kg and 50,000 tons of atap rice at Tk36 per kg.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Food Ministry’s Food Planning and Monitoring Committee at 11:30am on Wednesday. The meeting was held via online video conference.
After the meeting, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said: “From November 7 to February 28, 2021, we will procure 200,000 tons of paddy at Tk26 per kg, boiled rice at Tk37 per kg from November 15 to February 28, 2021 and atap rice at Tk36 per kg.”
The minister said the government used to collect paddy and rice every year during the boro season and only rice during the aman season to ensure a fair price for paddy to the marginal farmers. However, from last year, during the aman season, paddy is also being collected along with rice.
1,081,000 tons of food grains in govt stock
It was confirmed at the virtual meeting that a stock of 1,081,000 tons of food grains are present in government warehouses.
Last year, the government procured 600,000 tons of paddy at Tk26 per kg, 338,000 tons of boiled rice at Tk36 per kg, and 43,401 tons of atap rice at Tk35.
Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Health Minister Zahid Maleque, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Md Enamur Rahman and other senior officials of various ministries and departments joined the meeting via video conference.
Senior officials from the Ministry of Food and the Food Planning and Monitoring Committee were also present at the meeting. Food Ministry Secretary Moshammat Nazmanara Khanum conducted the meeting.
Bangladesh produced more than 20,000,000 tons of boro rice this year and the next boro harvest will begin six months later.
Aman procurement usually begins in late November and gains its peak a month later. The procurement usually continues till April.
Repeated floods have disrupted aman cultivation in parts of Bangladesh with scientists at Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute predicting a 15% fall in aman production this year.
The government already permitted rice import in the wake of poor procurement and repeated floods.
Researchers have suggested that the government increase its rice stock because of repeated frequent natural disasters affecting livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of rural families and the coronavirus outbreak that has rendered many jobless.