With this, the government will now procure 400,000 tons of paddy
The government will procure some 250,000 tons of paddy directly from farmers so that they can enjoy the benefits of farming, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference at the secretariat, he said: “The government earlier decided to procure 1,200,000 tons of rice and 150,000 tons of paddy. But, now it has decided to buy 250,000 tons more as farmers are being deprived of a fair price in keeping with its bountiful production.”
With this, he said, the government’s total paddy procurement will now stand at 400,000 tons, reports UNB.
“The paddy will be bought at Tk26 per kg. The government has so far managed to procure 30,000 tons of paddy from farmers. Paddy will not be bought for the second time from the farmers enlisted by the Agriculture Department,” the minister said.
Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzak, who was also present at the press briefing, said the government will procure one or two more tons of paddy, outside the total 400,000 tons, if necessary.
“The prime minister is very concerned by the low price of paddy. Yesterday [Monday], the prime minister said profit has to be ensured for framers within the shortest possible time and for that we will buy more paddy from them,” he added.
The ongoing food grain procurement program, which started on April 25, will continue till August 31.
Earlier, farmers of different parts of the country staged protests in numerous ways demanding fair prices of their produce as they have been counting huge losses.
Students of different educational institutions also had helped farmers harvest their paddy in various areas to minimize their losses.
Mill owners are reportedly buying maximum rice at lower prices in haor areas.
The production cost of per maund of rice, including the labourer cost, is said to be Tk1,000, while its selling price is only Tk550 to Tk750 in the local markets.
Source: Dhaka Tribune.
