250,000 mt paddy to be procured from farmers: Minister
Food minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Tuesday said the government has planned to procure some 250,000 metric tonnes of paddy directly from farmers so that they can enjoy the benefits of farming.
The food minister came up with the disclosure while addressing a press conference at the secretariat, reports UNB.
"The government previously decided to procure 1200,000 tonnes of rice and 150,000 tonnes of paddy. But, now it has decided to buy 250,000 tonnes more as farmers are being deprived of the fair price of paddy due to its bountiful production," he said.
With the addition one, he said, the total paddy procurement of the government will now stand at 400,000 mts.
"The paddy will be bought at Tk 26 per kg. The government has so far managed to procure 30,000 mts of paddy from farmers. Paddy won't be bought for the second time from the farmers enlisted by the Agriculture Department," the minister said.
Agriculture minister Abdur Razzaque who was also present at the press conference said, "The government will increase the procurement from 400,000 tonnes to 2/1 tonnes further, if necessary."
"The prime minister is very concerned at the low price of paddy. Yesterday, the prime minister said profit has to be ensured for framers within the shortest possible time and for that we'll buy more paddy from them," Razzaque said.
The ongoing food grain procurement programme which started on 25 April will continue till 31 August.
Earlier, farmers at different parts of the country staged protests in different ways demanding fair prices of their produce as they have been counting huge losses.
Students of different educational institutions of different parts of the country also had helped farmers harvest their paddy to minimize their losses.
Mill owners are reportedly buying maximum rice at lower prices in haor areas.
The production cost of per maund of rice, including the labourer cost, is said to be Tk 1,000 while its selling price is only Tk 550 to Tk 750 at the local market.