Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has received Tk 96,000 by selling three tonnes of paddy from her ancestral land at Tk 32 a kg. The paddy, grown for the second time in Pubar Beel in Tungipara upazila of Gopalganj, was sold to the food godown on Tuesday, 28 May.

The sale gives the prime minister's address as Sudha Sadan in Dhanmondi. Sheikh Hasina gave this address, the home of her late husband Dr Wazed Miah, when she registered as a voter. She first sold paddy from her ancestral land to the food godown in last year's Boro season.

Bidyut Kumar Biswas, officer in charge of the Tungipara food godown, confirmed the information.

He said the government will buy a total of 923 tonnes of paddy in Tungipara upazila, so 308 farmers were initially selected by lottery. As one of the selected farmers, the prime minister sold three tonnes of Boro paddy in her own name.

Tungipara upazila agriculture officer Rakibul Islam said the prime minister's ancestral land in Pubar Beel had lain fallow for a long time. Under the prime minister's directive that not an inch of land should be left uncultivated, Boro farming began on that land on a cooperative basis from last season at her initiative. Seeing it, neighbours also became keen to farm the fallow land in Pubar Beel. Last season the prime minister got 150 maunds of paddy from 17 bighas of ancestral land.

The upazila agriculture officer said Boro paddy was grown on the land for the second time this year, and three tonnes of it were sold to the food godown.

Procurement of farmers' paddy at the government's fixed fair price formally began in the upazila on 20 May. The food godown will buy paddy at Tk 32 a kg, or Tk 1,280 a maund, until 31 August.

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