The government will provide Tk 30 billion for mechanisation of agriculture to help tackle the labour shortage during the Boro harvesting season.
The government is also actively considering the scope of exporting 1.0-1.5 million (10-15 lakh) tonnes of rice to shore up prices of the staple in the local merket, agriculture minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque told reporters on Thursday.
"We will increase the allocation for mechanisation of the agriculture sector with a view to addressing the labour shortage during Boro harvest time," he said.
He said the government will initiate a project soon for agriculture mechanization, which will be implemented from the next fiscal year.
"The Awami League government is always with the farmers. It is not acceptable at all to see the downward trend in Boro paddy price this year," he said.
The government will build more silos for stocking paddies. The state-managed silos have the capacity to stock nearly 2.1 million tonnes of paddy.
Mr Razzaque said his ministry has taken initiatives to make the country's agriculture sector profitable.
The measures include increasing cash incentives for all kinds of agriculture inputs, including non-urea fertilisers.
Last week the National Board of Revenue nearly doubled the import duty on importing rice to discourage imports, as tens of thousands of farmers are incurring losses with Boro paddy.
Importers from now on would have to pay 55 per cent duty and tax to bring in the cereal. It was 28 per cent earlier, according to a statement issued by the NBR.
The revenue authority hiked the import duty in line with the directive of the Prime Minister.
The NBR kept the customs duty unchanged at 25 per cent but increased regulatory duty to 25 per cent from 3.0 per cent and introduced 5.0 percent advance income tax on rice imports.
The move came amid public outcry as prices of paddy dropped so low that many farmers were unable to recover production cost.
The government estimated the production cost of a kg of Boro paddy to be Tk 24.83, but selling price of grain almost halved in some regions.
The NBR said some 330,000 tonnes of rice have been imported in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year (2018-19).
The Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) data showed that average wholesale price of paddy was Tk 12.97 per kg on May 20. The lowest was Tk 10.25 in Nilphamari, a major rice-producing district of the northern region.
Prices of the staple plunged due to better harvest of crops this season and higher stocks. Imports made the stocks even greater, according to rice millers and traders.
Bangladesh's rice output is expected to hit a new high this fiscal year after growing 36.2 million tonnes during the fiscal year 2017-18, thanks to favourable weather and government support, officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension said.
