Govt to buy 18 lakh tonnes of paddy, rice

Amid the Boro harvest, the government has decided to buy 6.5 lakh tonnes of paddy and 11.5 lakh tonnes of rice from the local market to increase its food stock.

The government will buy the paddy at Tk 27 per kg, 10 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice at Tk 40 per kg and 1.5 lakh tonne of sunburnt rice (atap) at Tk 39 per kg.

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder made the announcement yesterday at a virtual press briefing.

The purchase of paddy will start from tomorrow and the rice from May 7, he added.

The government intentionally set a price higher than last year's to benefit the farmers and to make sure the purchase price is higher than the farming costs.

Asked if this could make rice even more expensive, the minister said the safety net programme would be expanded to control the prices in such a scenario.

The Food Planning and Monitoring Committee (FPMC) on April 22 recommended the prices.

According to a food ministry report, the government had 4.62 lakh tonnes of food grains (rice and wheat) in stock on April 20. On April 22, the stock of rice was 3.05 lakh tonnes, ministry sources said.

The stock was 11.2 lakh tonnes on July 1, 2020 when the current fiscal year began amid the pandemic. It was 15.99 lakh tonnes on July 1, 2019.

As the food grain stock fell, the price of coarse rice increased by Tk 13.24 per kg in the retail market, the report said.

In the last Boro and Aman seasons, the government could not meet its procurement target as the purchase prices of paddy and rice fixed by the committee was lower than the farming expenditures, resulting in farmers and millers choosing not to sell the harvest to the government.

Then the government tried to procure rice from the international market, but the initiative fell short of expectations due to different reasons.

Under government-to-government deals signed this fiscal year, Bangladesh is supposed to import 7.50 lakh tonnes rice. However, only 2.66 lakh tonnes have arrived.