The government on Monday announced the procurement of rice and paddy during the current Boro harvesting season aiming to enrich the national food stock which declined to a decade’s low this month.
Food Minister Shadhan Chandra Majumder officially made the declaration of buying a total of 1.8 million tonnes of rice and paddy through a virtual conference.
The Directorate General of Food (DGoF) will start buying 1.0 million tonnes of parboiled rice at Tk 40 and 150,000 tonnes of white rice (atap) at Tk 39 a kg from millers from May 7, a rise of Tk 4.0 per kg in prices from that of last Boro season, the minister said.
DGoF will also begin the purchase of 650,000 tonnes of paddy at Tk 27 a kg directly from the farmers from Wednesday, a Tk 1.0 per kg hike in prices than that of last Boro season.
Procurement drives will end on August 31, added the minister.
The decision of the procurement was primarily taken at a virtual meeting convened by the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) on April 22, which was presided over by the food minister.
Agriculture Minister Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Md Enamur Rahman and secretaries of the ministries concerned also attended the meeting on the day, said sources.
The government is optimistic to meet the purchase target as it thinks production might be an all-time high of 20.5 million tonnes in this Boro season.
Raising the asking rates might also help in meeting the target, said officials.
The country has now a stock of only 300,000 tonnes of rice which was above 900,000 tonnes in the corresponding period of last year.
The government has also set target to import 2.0 million tonnes of rice in this fiscal amid a fall in production during the last Aman season.
A total of 908,000 tonnes of rice have been brought in both by the private and state channels in the last four months which hardly had an impact on the rice market.
Coarse variety of rice was selling at Tk 48-52, medium at Tk 56-60 and finer at Tk 66-82 a kg for the last three and half weeks in the city retail markets.
The current prices of coarse and medium rice are second-ever highest, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
Meanwhile, above 10 per cent harvest of Boro crop has been completed so far across the country out of 4.88 million hectares of land.
Harvesting has started in the haor and other low lands from mid-April while it will begin in full swing across the country from May.
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