With good prices on offer, farmers and mill owners are showing interest in the government's paddy and rice procurement drive this Aman season. In the past month about a third of the target has been procured, with two months still to go, so Aman procurement may exceed the original target this year. In view of this, the Directorate of Food is raising the target. Sources say it may rise from 7 lakh tonnes to 9 lakh tonnes.

The Directorate of Food says government procurement of Aman paddy and rice began across the country on 23 November. In the month since, 2.30 lakh tonnes of paddy and rice have been procured, against an initial season target of 7 lakh tonnes.

At an inter-ministerial meeting on 8 October, the food ministry fixed this year's government purchase prices for Aman: Tk 30 a kg for paddy, Tk 44 a kg for parboiled rice and Tk 43 a kg for atap (sun-dried) rice.

On 21 November the food ministry said two lakh tonnes of Aman paddy, four lakh tonnes of parboiled rice and one lakh tonnes of atap rice would be bought this season. The drive began on 23 November and will run until 28 February next year.

The report also says that for this year (the 2023-24 season) the government set a target of procuring 5.5 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice and 1.5 lakh tonnes of atap rice.

In the current Aman season two lakh tonnes of paddy are being bought at Tk 30 a kg. Compared with last Aman season, the government raised the price by Tk 4 a kg for paddy and Tk 2 a kg for rice. These Aman prices are the same as those paid in the last Boro procurement.

Moniruzzaman, director (procurement) of the Directorate of Food, told Jagonews that farmers have been encouraged this time, which is why the food ministry has announced a further 2 lakh tonne increase in the paddy and rice procurement target. "I hope the increased target will also be fully met this Aman season," he said.

The deadline for contracts with rice mill owners this Aman season was 7 December. Within the contract period, the target for contracted parboiled rice was 394,989 tonnes. But up to 20 December mill owners across the country had supplied 181,231 tonnes of parboiled rice and 3,513 tonnes of atap rice.

The food ministry believes the contracted rice could have been delivered to warehouses within 10 days given the mills' fortnightly husking capacity. Contracted millers are therefore being urged to deliver rice quickly, and the Directorate of Food is calling for explanations from the millers concerned and inspecting mills to give the necessary instructions.

Boro is the country's leading rice crop, accounting for 55 per cent of the rice produced each year.

According to the Bangladesh Economic Review 2023, over the past five years annual Boro production ranged between 1.95 crore and 2.09 crore tonnes, while Aman, in second place, ranged between 1.3994 crore and 1.4958 crore tonnes a year.

Annual production of Aus, in third place, ranged between 27 lakh and 32.45 lakh tonnes. That is why, after Boro, the government puts most emphasis on Aman in its paddy and rice procurement drive.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.