Bangladesh Farmers reluctant to sell paddy to govt for low price
Farmers in the Rajshahi region are selling paddy at Tk 37-50 per kg and rice at Tk 56-80 per kg, higher than government-set prices. The government aims to procure 56,359 tonnes of aman paddy and 1,11,263 tonnes of boiled rice, but so far has collected only 396 tonnes of paddy and 54,583 tonnes of rice. Farmers prefer selling in local markets for better prices, while millers, bound by contracts, face losses of Tk 8 per kg supplying rice to government warehouses. The procurement target for the 2024 aman season nationwide is 10 lakh tonnes.
On the local market, the paddy, however, sells at Tk 37-50 a kilogram and rice at Tk 56-80 kilogram in various districts of the Rajshahi region.
‘We are getting on the local market higher prices than those set by the government,’ said Enamul Haque, a farmer at Godagari upazila in Rajshahi.
‘There are other issues too, like drying paddy at a government-prescribed temperature and cleaning dust and sand, and then bringing the produce to the warehouses,’ he said.
According to the regional food controller office, the target to purchase aman paddy from farmers and boiled rice from millers in the division is 56,359 tonnes and 1,11,263 tonnes respectively. The previous year’s targets were 31,556 tonnes and 1,13,751 tonnes respectively.
The procurement started on November 17, 2024 and is scheduled to end on February 28.
The authorities, however, have so far been able to collect only 396 tonnes of paddy and 54,583 tonnes of rice in eight districts of the Rajshahi division.
In the past 2023-24 season, the regional food controller managed to collect only 3,482 tonnes of paddy from the farmers against a target of 31,556 tonnes.
According to the traders and farmers, the coarse variety of paddy (swarna) sells for Tk 1,500 a maund (40 kilograms) while the fine variety of paddy sells for Tk 2,000 on the local market.
They said that they would incur losses if they provide paddy and rice to the government warehouses at the prices set by the government.
Sheikh Md Jahedul Islam, assistant regional food controller in Rajshahi, told New Age that there was still time for collection of aman paddy and rice.
‘We are optimistic that we would achieve the target for rice collection,’ he said, adding, ‘We may not achieve the target for paddy since farmers are not providing their produce to us.’
‘On the local market, farmers are getting higher prices than the prices the government has set this year. Besides, we do not have any contract with the farmers,’ he added.
Due to agreements with the government, rice mill owners are compelled to supply rice to the government warehouses.
Rafiqul Islam, former president of the Naogaon Rice Mill Owners’ Association, told New Age that they did not have any alternatives but to provide the boiled rice to the government houses despite a loss of Tk 8 kilogram, as they would lose their dealership if they did not provide the rice.
According to media reports, the government will procure a total of 10 lakh tonnes of food grains from marginal farmers across the country in the aman season.
Under the programme, 3.5 lakh tonnes of paddy, 5.5 lakh tonnes of boiled rice and the rest one lakh tonnes of atap rice will be procured
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Source : New Age
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