To prevent irregularities in paddy procurement, Bangladesh's food department has decided to run the Aman paddy procurement drive through an app in several districts.

This year's Aman procurement began on 20 November and runs until 8 February. The government will buy 600,000 tonnes of paddy from farmers at Tk 26 a kg and 350,000 tonnes of rice from mills at Tk 36 a kg. Under government policy, the agriculture department has listed how much paddy will be bought from each district.

Dr. Mosammat Nazmanara Khanum, director general of the Directorate of Food, told the BBC that farmer registration is under way now, and once it is complete, farmers will be able to apply through the app to sell paddy. The app, called "Krishoker App" (Farmers' App), was developed by the Bangladesh Computer Council.

• Until 7 December, farmers can register on the app with their name and national ID number.
• Those whose names then appear on the app will have time until later in December to apply to sell paddy.

Source: BBC Bangla. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.