CropsFood Minister Afroza Khanam said in Chattogram that a pilot in three districts will buy paddy straight from farmers to keep middlemen out, possibly paying through mobile banking such as bKash.
Meeting staff of the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority, Food Minister Afroza Khanam said the eight divisional mobile labs are not enough and called for faster testing, closer monitoring and wider public awareness.
Although government grain stocks are at a record high and Boro procurement beat its target, the government has decided to buy about two lakh tonnes more rice from mills, allegedly under pressure from millers and politicians.
The cabinet committee on economic affairs has approved in principle the purchase of 15,000 pieces of dunnage for government food warehouses and a special procurement route for five immigration technologies.
Newly appointed Food Minister Afroza Khanam has called for visible change in the food ministry through greater transparency, accountability and efficiency, and for food programmes to reach genuine beneficiaries.
Afroza Khanam Rita, the civil aviation and tourism minister, has been given charge of the Ministry of Food, with M Rashiduzzaman Millat taking over civil aviation and tourism.
The government will import 100,000 tonnes of non-basmati parboiled rice from Vietnam on a government-to-government basis at Tk 51.50 a kg.
The government plans to raise the minimum food grain stock held in public warehouses, with the food ministry set to propose an increase of at least five lakh tonnes over the current 13.5 lakh tonnes.
CropsOn 22 July 2026 the cabinet committee on government purchase approved buying 1 crore 60 lakh hessian jute sacks, at a cost of Tk 111 crore 6 lakh 400, to store and bag grain in the 2026 domestic Boro procurement drive.
CropsBoro growers in Sherpur said in May 2026 that low paddy prices, high harvest wages, two extra kilograms demanded on every maund and a syndicate they blamed at the government godowns were leaving them unable to cover their costs.
CropsGovernment warehouses held 2,054,179 tonnes of food grain on 27 July 2025, which the Directorate of Food called the highest ever. Boro season procurement of paddy and rice had passed 1.428 million tonnes by the same date.
Farmers in Astagram, Kishoreganj, say they must pay bribes to sell paddy to the government godown, and a video shows a food inspector demanding Tk 2,000 a tonne.
The government will buy 3.5 lakh tonnes of paddy and 14 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice this Boro season, at prices Tk 4 a kg higher than last year.
