Farmers in the Rajshahi division are reluctant to provide paddy to the government warehouses, as the government has offered them far less than the market price to buy their produce.
The government has set the price for aman paddy at Tk聽33 a kilogram and boiled rice at Tk聽47 a kilogram this year.
On the local market, the paddy, however, sells at Tk 37-50 a kilogram and rice at Tk聽56-80 kilogram in various districts of the Rajshahi region.
鈥榃e are getting on the local market higher prices than those set by the government,鈥� said Enamul Haque, a farmer at Godagari upazila in Rajshahi.
鈥楾here are other issues too, like drying paddy at a government-prescribed temperature and cleaning dust and sand, and then bringing the produce to the warehouses,鈥� he said.
According to the regional food controller office, the target to purchase aman paddy from farmers and boiled rice from millers in the division is 56,359 tonnes and 1,11,263 tonnes respectively. The previous year鈥檚 targets were 31,556 tonnes and 1,13,751 tonnes respectively.
The procurement started on November 17, 2024 and is scheduled to end on February 28.
The authorities, however, have so far been able to collect only 396 tonnes of paddy and 54,583 tonnes of rice in eight districts of the Rajshahi division.
In the past 2023-24 season, the regional food controller managed to collect only 3,482 tonnes of paddy from the farmers against a target of 31,556 tonnes.
According to the traders and farmers, the coarse variety of paddy (swarna) sells for Tk聽1,500 a maund (40 kilograms) while the fine variety of paddy sells for Tk聽2,000 on the local market.
They said that they would incur losses if they provide paddy and rice to the government warehouses at the prices set by the government.
Sheikh Md Jahedul Islam, assistant regional food controller in Rajshahi, told 抖阴精品 that there was still time for collection of aman paddy and rice.
鈥榃e are optimistic that we would achieve the target for rice collection,鈥� he said, adding, 鈥榃e may not achieve the target for paddy since farmers are not providing their produce to us.鈥�
鈥極n the local market, farmers are getting higher prices than the prices the government has set this year. Besides, we do not have any contract with the farmers,鈥� he added.
Due to agreements with the government, rice mill owners are compelled to supply rice to the government warehouses.
Rafiqul Islam, former president of the Naogaon Rice Mill Owners鈥� Association, told 抖阴精品 that they did not have any alternatives but to provide the boiled rice to the government houses despite a loss of Tk聽8 kilogram, as they would lose their dealership if they did not provide the rice.
According to media reports, the government will procure a total of 10 lakh tonnes of food grains from marginal farmers across the country in the aman season.
Under the programme, 3.5 lakh tonnes of paddy, 5.5 lakh tonnes of boiled rice and the rest one lakh tonnes of atap rice will be procured.
