With the target of procuring one million tonnes of Boro rice in the current season, the government yesterday fixed the Boro procurement rate at Tk32 per kilogram – hiking the price by Tk1 from last year.
It also fixed the price of Boro paddy at Tk22, while 100,000 tonnes of it are expected be procured from the domestic market; the price last year was Tk20.
The government’s procurement for the national reserve will start from May 1 and continue until August 31.
The decision was made at a meeting of Food Planning Committee held at the Food Ministry yesterday, where Food Minister Qamrul Islam and Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury were present.
The government hiked the price of Boro as the production cost had been higher this year. The production cost of each kilogram of Boro rice is Tk27.50 and Boro paddy is Tk20 this season, Kamrul Islam told reporters after the meeting.
The production cost saw a spike despite the government last year lowering the price of Urea fertiliser – a key component in Boro cultivation – by Tk4 in a bid to reduce production costs.
The government had also offered incentives for other agricultural products like Muriate of Potash (MoP), TSP fertiliser, and diesel for irrigation.
Different government agencies concerned blamed the increased production costs on the political programmes by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
However, farmers claimed even though there was adequate supply of agricultural products, hoarding had caused production costs to experience a spike.
This year, the procurement rate was fixed earlier than usual; last year, the prices were announced on April 29. Regarding the early announcement, Food Minister Qamrul said it was done to ensure fair prices for farmers.
Expressing hopes of producing 19 million tonnes of Boro paddy this year, the minister also said the government had hiked the procurement price to give farmers more incentive.
Apart from fixing the Boro price, the meeting also fixed the wheat procurement rate at Tk28 – a Tk1 increase from last year. This year the government targets to procure 150,000 tonnes of wheat.
The government-level procurement activities of wheat will start from April 1 and will continue until June 30.
