The government will buy 17.5 lakh tonnes of paddy and rice from the domestic market in the coming Boro season. The target is 3.5 lakh tonnes of paddy and 14 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice.

The procurement price has been set at Tk 36 a kg for Boro paddy and Tk 49 a kg for parboiled rice, Tk 4 a kg more than last year.

Procurement of Boro paddy and rice will start across the country on 24 April and run until 31 August.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Food Planning and Monitoring Committee at the Secretariat on Wednesday (9 April), chaired by Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed.

Food Adviser Ali Imam Majumder told journalists after the meeting that the committee has also decided to buy wheat at Tk 36 a kg. No decision has been taken on how much wheat will be procured; as much as is available will be bought, he said.

He said the prices of paddy and rice were set by adding a profit to the production cost given by the agriculture ministry.

He said harvesting has begun in the haor and will be in full swing from Pahela Baishakh. The agriculture adviser will go there to inaugurate it. Procurement will start on 24 April, and a little later in the north.

Last Boro season the target was 17 lakh tonnes: 5 lakh tonnes of paddy, 11 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice and one lakh tonnes of atap (sun-dried) rice. The government bought Boro paddy at Tk 32 a kg, parboiled rice at Tk 45 and atap rice at Tk 44.

Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed said that despite repeated crop losses from floods and heavy rain, the situation has been kept fairly stable by importing fertiliser and rice. "Our paddy and rice procurement target has been fully met," he said.

Agriculture Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said he hoped production would exceed the target, judging by the situation in the fields. He said he would go to Sunamganj the next day (Thursday) to inaugurate a harvest festival.

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