Experts suggested allocating special fund in the upcoming national budget to procure food grains from international markets and build a good reserve of food.
The reserve is likely to become vulnerability as the procurement rate of Boro rice is almost similar to the local market price, they said, arguing for the special allocation.
Currently, the local market price of per maund of Boro paddy is around Tk750 while the government fixed the procurement price at Tk800, discouraging the suppliers to make supply agreement with the food department.
“Just after the harvesting, the high price of paddy at the farmers’ level is quite surprising. If the trends continue, the government cannot meet the procurement target,” said Quazi Shahabuddin, former director general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
In that case, he said, the government has to import the food grains from international market at higher prices. The agricultural economist said additional budget should be allocated to face the unexpected situation.
On March 20, the government fixed the target of procuring 11 lakh tonnes of Boro rice from the local market at a rate of Tk31 per Kg as compared to 10 lakh tonnes at Tk29 per Kg last year.
According to the Ministry of Food, the government increased both the procurement target and price compared to the previous fiscal year to ensure fair price for the farmers so they do not turn back from Boro farming – the largest food supply source of the country.
In last about one month period as of May 26, the government procured only around 53,000 tonnes of Boro rice as most of the suppliers were reluctant to sign agreement with the government due to little difference between the procurement price and local market price.
For example, a major portion of the suppliers from Noagaon district having the highest Boro growers did not sign the agreement till yesterday, though the deadline expired on May 26. Nirod Baran Saha, president of Noagan Rice Wholesalers Association, told the Dhaka Tribune of the unwillingness yesterday.
Regarding the high price of paddy during this period of harvesting, Dr Asaduzzamn, professional fellow of BIDS, said that the farmers are getting the benefit this year which is good, but it will make the government insecure in terms of food reserve as the government will have to procure rice anyhow to meet the social safety net programmes.
Currently, the government spends around 20 lakh tons of coarse rice to support different social safety net programmes, including Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) and Open Market Sale (OMS).
The average rice production of the country is around 3.4 crore tonnes and the wheat is around 10 lakh tonnes.