With the Boro harvest coming to an end, farmers are expecting bumper crops this season but they are not sure if fortune will smile upon them, as every year they are deprived of fair prices for their products.
This correspondent talked to Agro-Economist Mahabub Hossain about what measures the government could take to help farmers survive and thus save the agro-economy of the country.
When asked about the demand for fair prices for farmers, Mahabub said the government should procure rice directly from the farmers at a fair price and then export a limited amount, as it does not have an adequate number of silos to preserve food grains.
If the government does not purchase from local market the farmers will face huge financial losses, he said.
Currently, the government has planned to procure 1m tonnes of rice and 150,000 tonnes of wheat grain from the internal market.
As of May 28, 2013 government silos were stocked with 856,000 tonnes of food grains, including rice and wheat, against a total capacity of 1.64m tonnes.
Statistics show that the government can now procure only 784,000 tonnes of food grains due to a lack in storage capacity.
Mahabub suggested that the government should take the initiative for the sake of both the country’s farmers and food security. Otherwise, farmers will lose their enthusiasm, forcing them to shift from cereal production to cash crops.
The government has fixed the price of per maund of Boro rice at Tk700, but farmers are selling for Tk450, as the government’s procurement programme is not in full swing.
Rice export could make the government’s image better as it will send a positive signal about food security and help public perception, he said, adding that the decision to export food can be taken only after achieving a satisfactory production level.
The economist mentioned that at present the price of rice in the international market is higher than the local market. That’s why the government can risk exporting grains to promote local production.
In 2011, the government imported a large amount of food grains including rice and wheat to implement the ruling Awami League’s electoral pledge of ensuring the country’s food security.
The government had anticipated insufficient food production that year. However, later the country experienced a bumper Boro crop.
“The imported food grains arrived just after Boro was harvested and made a complete mess of our storage capacity,” Mahabub noted, saying that the import that year prevented the government from buying rice in large amount from farmers.
The blunder the government made in 2011 took a heavy toll on farmers as they were deprived of a fair price for their rice, said Mahabub, the executive director of Brac.
In reply to the question as to what happens if farmers shift from rice cultivation to other cash crops like maize and oil seed, Dr Mahbub Hoassian said local production of staple food will decline and the government will have to invest foreign currency to import food for the people.
Already such trends have been seen to some extent in the country, he said, adding that Boro cultivation in the current year is almost 7% less than in the previous year, which is indicative of the trend.
He said the government might purchase rice more this year to continue its safety net programme including Open Market Sale (OMS) and Test Relief, as a result of recent cyclonic storm “Mahasen” that devastated the Bangladeshi coast.
If the government continues with its relief program for a long time in disaster-affected areas, it will require more procurement of food grains from the local market, he said.