Follow recommendations of experts on rice, potato, onion prices
“Last year saw lower production of aush and aman rice because of floods. The government’s target on rice-paddy collection was not achieved. Millers and wholesalers took advantage of the inadequate stock of rice and paddy at the government food storages,” agriculture minister Abdur Razzak said. His remarks at the unveiling ceremony of the report on 'Availability of rice, potato and onion in Bangladesh: An informal research' at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council auditorium in Dhaka on Tuesday, revealed the truth. The country’s rice mill owners and rice-paddy wholesale traders take ‘advantage’ of the situation and manipulate the prices at their will.
The minister’s remarks clarifies how and under what circumstances these opportunities are created for the traders. When the government warehouses don’t have adequate stock, it is a perfect opportunity for the mill owners and rice traders. It is essential to ensure that such circumstances do not arise.
Funded by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Foundation Council, the report prepared by a research team of concerned government institutions, came up with several recommendations aimed at avoiding the seasonal surge in rice prices. These should be considered seriously. The recommendations said that modernising rice-paddy collection method is necessary. Rice mill owners will process paddy after collecting it from the farmers directly. The government should announce minimum support price (MSP) for coarse and fine varieties of rice. At least 1.2 million (12 lakh) tonnes of rice need to be stocked at the government warehouses all the time. If this can be ensured, then the syndicate of mill owners and rice traders will not get the opportunity to raise the prices. The government will have to intervene in the market effectively and at the correct time. That is why at least 2.5 million (25 lakh) tonnes of rice need to be collected during each harvest. Procurement price of rice and paddy should be fixed putting emphasis on paddy farmers’ interest so that farmers make at least 20 per cent in profit excluding their production cost.
During this aman harvest, price of onions rose unusually high along with the abnormal price hike of rice. The research report said, manipulation by the syndicate of local unscrupulous traders is one of causes for the rise in onion prices. They got the opportunity because of India’s ban on its onion export. The recommendations said that the syndicate of onion traders needs to be brought to book. Reducing dependency on export and increasing local production is essential. Also, when import is inevitable, several countries should be sourced, reducing dependency on a single country.
The report cited the reasons of potato price hike. The first was potato traders and farmers stock the product in hope of a price surge in future, especially, excessively hoarding by seasonal potato traders and creating an artificial crisis. The potato market is controlled by unscrupulous traders. The control of the government is limited. The report recommends that exemplary punishment should be carried out by identifying the creators of instability in the market. Government control and surveillance is necessary on the process of preserving potatoes at and removing it from cold storages. The government has to highlight information on production, demand, supply and price of potatoes properly and keep the updates accordingly.