The government has announced plans to procure Boro paddy directly from farmers using the mobile application “Krishaker App”, as the digital system brought success during the recent Aman paddy season.
Earlier, around 100,000 farmers registered themselves with the “Krishaker app” following the government instructions.
Among those who registered, 23,000 farmers from 16 sadar upazilas of 16 districts were nominated through lottery to sell their Aman paddy to the government.
Under the scheme, nominated farmers received Tk26 for every kilogram of Aman paddy, Tk36 for every kilogram of processed rice, and Tk35 for every kilogram of atop (sunned) rice.
Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzak said: “We have a plan to procure Boro paddy directly from farmers in the upcoming season. However, those who were nominated earlier during the Aman paddy season will be excluded from the lottery for the Boro paddy season.”
He made the statement at a press briefing at his office at the Secretariat in Dhaka on Wednesday.
“We will increase the coverage area of the mobile app to 48 upazilas. But, it will not be possible to include all upazilas at present as the capacity of the app is gradually being upgraded,” said Food Secretary Dr Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum.
“As we procure the paddy directly from the farmers, it can be ensured that these farmers will get a fair price for their yields.”
However, the government procured around 4% of the total production of Aman paddy from the farmers this year.
Besides, the government achieved 99.95% of its target in procuring Aman Paddy directly from the farmers, which began from November 20 last year.
“We have procured 6,26,657 metric tons of Aman paddy, in line with a target of 626,991 metric tons, directly from farmers,” Food Minister Shadan Chandra Majumder said.
“Out of the total amount of Aman paddy procured by the government, more than 29,000 metric tons were acquired directly from the farmers with the help of the mobile application.”
Apart the Aman paddy, the government bought 3,37,407 metric tons of processed rice and 43,401 metric tons of white rice.
