Government buying of boro paddy in Satkania, Chattogram, is under a cloud. An investigation by Manab Zamin says at least Tk 50 lakh of the premium farmers should have earned over the market price went instead to a syndicate allegedly involving the upazila food office, some food warehouse staff and some mill owners. The food office denies it.
Under a government notice, Satkania's 2026 boro procurement target was 675 tonnes at Tk 36 a kg, at least Tk 11 above the market price. A farmer may sell up to 3 tonnes, so each should gain Tk 33,000 over the market. The reporter followed the food office's list and spoke to more than 20 farmers; more than 15 of them had let their accounts and farm cards be used in return for just Tk 1,000. At Tk 11,000 a tonne, at least Tk 50 lakh of the total Tk 74.25 lakh premium never reached farmers, the paper calculates.
Why did the farmers not sell themselves? Several said that when they brought paddy, warehouse staff turned it away on various pretexts, leaving them out of pocket on transport, so they sold to mill owners instead, who paid them Tk 1,000 if they could deliver to the warehouse on the farmers' cards. Some mill owners, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted selling on farmers' cards and claimed that they too make little because they have to give the warehouse Tk 5,000 a tonne.
Acting upazila food controller Md Selim Helali said his office has nothing to do with any syndicate: money was paid into farmers' bank accounts and farmers were present when paddy was bought, and if someone used a farmer, that was not his office's concern. Food inspector Kamrul Islam said paddy was taken after checking farm cards and national ID cards and cheques were issued in the farmers' names.
Chattogram district food controller Sheikh Riad Kamal Roni called procurement irregularity a common complaint. Money goes into farmers' accounts, and if a farmer withdraws it and hands it to someone, the office can do nothing, he said; there are set quality conditions, and paddy that does not meet them cannot be taken. Local farmers said angrily that the money due for their hard-won crop was going to a syndicate. The report is an investigation by Manab Zamin.
Source: Manab Zamin
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