Boro procurement begins
Courtesy New Age 17/4/08
Official procurement of boro rice began Wednesday with the government setting a target of 12 lakh tonnes to build a buffer food stock.
The procurement price for rice has been set at Tk 28 per kg, up from Tk 18 of the year ago.
The government will also buy three lakh tonnes of paddy from growers at Tk 18, said Pius Costa, director general of the food directorate.
Procurement prices were fixed considering the production costs, estimated at Tk 19.23 and Tk 13.19 for a kilogram of rice and paddy respectively, food secretary Molla Waheduzzaman said at a press conference earlier on the day.
Procurement drive started from Sunamganj district, where farmers already began harvesting boro paddy.
Boro paddy is selling at Tk 650 per maund (37.3 kg) in the region and the government is offering over Tk 680, the DG said.
‘If the farmers get good price they will be motivated to increase production,’ the food official said.
The average cost of producing paddy is Tk 13.19 per kg and the government is giving the farmers 40 per cent profit, he informed.
The procurement drive will continue till August 30.
Wheat procurement began on April 1 at Tk 26 per kg, but so far no purchase was possible, the DG said.
The government has the capacity to store 1.2 million tonnes of rice and target-oriented can raise storage capacity to 1.4 million tonnes. About 225,000 tonnes of wheat can be stored in government warehouses.
About 1.7 million tonnes of rice worth $600 million and 1.2 million tonnes of wheat valued $423 million were imported in the first eight months of the current fiscal, according to Bangladesh Bank data.
During the same period of the last fiscal, a total of 0.25 million tonnes of rice valued $54.75 million and 1.15 million tonnes of wheat worth $234 million were imported.
Economists earlier suggested that the government, apart from ensuring enough procurement from local market, should explore available import sources to build a safe stock to ease supply and prices of rice in local market.
They also stressed that the vacant warehouses of Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation could be used for storing food.
The government has a history of failing to achieve procurement targets, mainly for offering prices, which are much lower than market rates. Procurement stood 7.6 lakh tonnes in the last boro harvest season, against a target of 12 lakh tonnes.
Food officials said this year’s pricing was done keeping in view the market realities so that farmers do not stay away from government’s warehouses.
The food secretary said a total of 1.75 crore tonnes of rice would be produced in the IRRI-boro season.
The country’s demand for food grains is 2.60 crore tonnes and its 55 per cent would come from the IRRI-boro season, he added.
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