The government will buy aman paddy from farmers at Tk 35 a kilogram and parboiled rice at Tk 49 a kilogram in the 2026-27 aman season, with atap (sun-dried) rice priced at Tk 48. The total target is 850,000 tonnes of paddy and rice. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Food Planning and Monitoring Committee (FPMC) on Sunday, 8 November.
The target is made up of 300,000 tonnes of aman paddy, 500,000 tonnes of parboiled rice and 50,000 tonnes of atap rice. Paddy procurement starts on 14 November and runs to 28 February 2027; procurement of parboiled and atap rice starts on 1 December and ends on the same date.
The meeting's press note says ensuring a fair price for farmers' crops is the main aim of this aman drive, alongside food and nutrition security and building a modern, farmer-centred agriculture.
Speaking to reporters at the secretariat after the meeting, Md Abdul Bari, state minister for food, said the area under aromatic rice was steadily shrinking, causing supply shortfalls in some places and pushing up prices. The government was not exporting aromatic rice on any large scale, he said; exports had run for a short while and were now stopped.
A three-member committee drawn from the food, agriculture and commerce ministries has been formed, the state minister said. It will visit the areas that grow aromatic rice and, where the crop is still grown and farmers are keen, offer extra incentives to raise output.
He added that the land ministry was carrying out a nationwide survey to establish which crops do best in which region and suit its weather and climate, and that the agriculture ministry was also working on it. Food Minister Afroza Khanam Rita and Food Secretary Abu Taher Md Masud Rana attended the meeting.
The report was filed by Banglanews24's senior correspondent.
Photo: Balaram Mahalder / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Banglanews24
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