Boro procurement may face problem for space shortage

70pc room of govt go-downs in N dists packed with earlier purchased food grains

8 May 2009, 18:00 PM

Our Correspondent, Nilphamari

The government's food procurement drive in the ongoing Boro season may face difficulty due to space shortage in the government go-downs in three northern districts as 70 percent space of those go-downs are still packed with food grains purchased earlier. This year the government has set target for rice and paddy procurement on monthly basis although there was provision for seasonal procurement for four months from May to August in previous years, food department sources said. Rice procurement target in Nilphamari, Panchagarh and Lalmonirhat districts for May is 19,126 tonnes in total and that of paddy is 3,601 tonnes. District-wise, 6634, 7093 and 5399 tonnes of rice are to be procured in Nilphamari, Panchagarh and Lalmonirhat. This year, the government's purchase rate for a kg of rice is Tk 22 and that for paddy is Tk 14. The paddy would be procured directly from the farmers and the rice would be procured from the rice mills owners. In the three districts, there are 22 government-owned local supply depots (LSD) with total storage capacity of 37.5 thousand tonnes of rice, sources said. However, earlier purchased 26 thousand tonne food grains are still kept in those go-downs. Procurement target for May is 19,126 tonne but only 11 to 12 thousand tonnes of newly purchased rice can be kept in the government go-downs using the 30 percent vacant space there. The remaining amount would have to be kept elsewhere. If the government's rice procurement target is set in the similar way for June, July and August without any break, accommodation problem for food grains is likely to worsen. Some more space would be available when a good amount of food will be delivered from the go-downs within a short time for different government programmes like test relief, vulnerable group feeding, vulnerable group development and other purposes, Enayetur Rahman, Nilphamari district controller of food, said. Abdus Salam, the district controller of food in Lalmonirhat, said the government is considering taking lease of private-owned go-downs to store the procured food grains. “I hope that the government would rent private-owned go-downs to pave the way for smooth rice procurement this year,” said Rakibul Chowdhury, the vice president of North Bengal Rice Mills Owners Association. Farmers in Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat and Panchagarh districts cultivated Boro on 1,78,798 hectares of land to produce 7,25,762 tonnes of rice this year, agriculture department sources said.