The government on Thursday set the procurement prices for rice and paddy at Tk 31 and Tk 20 per kg respectively.
The Boro rice and paddy procurement drive will begin on May 1 while that of wheat on April 1, Food Minister Quamrul Islam made the announcement at a press briefing after a meeting of the Food Planning and Monitoring Committee (FPMC) at his ministry.
He said 1.5 lakh tonnes of paddy, 10 lakh tonnes of rice and 1.5 lakh tonnes of wheat will be procured during the four-month drive.
Quamrul said, “We’ve fixed the procurement prices based on the production cost. The paddy will be procured from the farmers while rice from the millers.”
He said the production cost of paddy was Tk 17.50 while that of rice 26.50 per kg.
The minister said the wheat will be procured at Tk 27 per kg during its three-month drive.
Last year, the minister said, the paddy was procured at Tk 18.50 while rice at Tk 29 and wheat at Tk 25.
In reply to a question, the minister said the new procurement prices would cast no impact on the market as they fixed that keeping in mind the interest of the farmers.
Now the procurement of Aman paddy is going on, said Quamrul adding that the government has so far procured 375,000 tonnes of Aman paddy against the target of 3 lakh tones.
Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Finance Minister AMA Muhith and senior officials were present at the meeting.
Source: UNBConnect
